• Ryanair Boeing 737
    Ryanair
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    FR/RYR
    Airline Type:
    Low-Cost Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Dublin Airport, London Stansted Airport, Milan Bergamo Airport
    Year Founded:
    1985
    Airline Group:
    Ryanair Group
    CEO:
    Eddie Wilson
    Country:
    Ireland

Ryanair today announced that it has launched its largest United Kingdom winter schedule in its history. The low-cost powerhouse will introduce 21 new routes from 21 airports to winter sun and city break destinations across its network.

Plenty to brag about

A total of 440 routes will be operated from Ryanair’s UK airports, including its 13 bases. Just last week, the airline shared that it added over a million low-fare seats to its UK winter schedule. It also expects to see its full-year traffic grow from an initial target of 165 million passengers to over 166.5 million in 2022. The per annum number pre-COVID was 149 million. The robust recovery continues this week amid another celebratory announcement.

The airline’s leadership anticipates that the company would soon overtake easyJet as the “largest UK airline” with the help of its growth initiatives and also took time to take a dig at the likes of British Airways, which has over 120,000 flights scheduled over the winter season, amid the plethora of flights that have been canceled. Notably, London Gatwick canceled 26 easyJet flights due to air traffic controllers calling in sick. There were also hundreds of UK airline cancellations last month.

Nonetheless, Ryanair is not totally immune to industry challenges, with strikes in key markets such as Spain planned between Christmas and New Year. However, the airline expresses that this action will have little impact with minimal flight delays.

Ryanair 737
Photo: Ryanair

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“Hopeless Heathrow”

During a press conference attended by Simple Flying in London today, Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary took time to highlight that his airline’s strong boost is helped by the fact that it doesn’t operate at London Heathrow. Heathrow's operational issues have been well reported over the summer, struggling to cope with recovery demand. Still, the site has claimed that the worst of the disruptions are over, following a daily cap.

Thanking the fact that his firm has avoided Heathrow, O’Leary stated:

“Ryanair is one of the most reliable airlines as “Hopeless Heathrow” continues to cap traffic …This winter Ryanair is offering its UK customers lower fares and more certainty with their winter travel plans, as it operates a full schedule of over 3,000 daily flights with many new routes and unbeatable value for UK’s consumers and their families.”

Across the nation

The 21 new additions are broken down by the following:

Stansted

Birmingham

Bournemouth

Asturias

Billund

Lanzarote

Catania

Grenoble

Venice

Klagenfurt

Santander

Edinburgh

Lapland

Stockholm

Grenoble

Leipzig

Toulouse

Verona

Liverpool

Venice

Manchester

Rome

Newcastle

Klagenfurt

Barcelona

Podgorica

Cork

Turin

Ryanair
Photo: Ryanair.

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There is some cautious optimism as risk factors such as the war in Ukraine, virus variants, inflation, and Brexit continue to pose threats to the industry. Yet, Ryanair’s chief concluded that there has been strong traffic and load factor recovery, with numbers reaching 95% and 96% in June and July, respectively. Summer 2022 traffic is 115% of pre-COVID capacity. So, the operator will be looking to continue this momentum heading into 2023.

What are your thoughts about Ryanair’s extensive UK network? What do you make of the overall plans of the airline? Let us know what you think of the carrier and its operations in the comment section.