Budget airline Ryanair has unveiled two new routes from Edinburgh starting next summer.

The new destinations of Billund in Denmark and Luxembourg come alongside nine routes extended to summer operating from the Scottish capital.

They include Berlin, which will be six flights weekly, Derry, which is five flights a week, Lisbon, Memmingen, Seville, Sofia, Stockholm and Tallinn with two flights a week, and one flight a week to Riga. These routes all already operate in winter.

The move means there will be one new Ryanair aircraft based in Edinburgh bringing the total to nine in an investment worth £76 million.

The airline will employ about 2,625 people in the city after the deployment and it estimates it will bring more than three million through the airport.

The Herald:

The news comes after Edinburgh gained five of the routes previously operating from Glasgow after Ryanair cut its complement there from 23 to three in February in a decision it said was connected to Scottish Government inaction over Air Passenger Duty.

Edinburgh also launched a key long-haul route to Beijing in June.

Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair chief marketing officer, said: "We are pleased to launch our Edinburgh Summer 19 schedule, with 11 new routes and 58 routes in total, which will deliver 3.5m customers through Edinburgh airport next year.

"We will also base an additional aircraft - an investment of $100m (£76m) - at Edinburgh as we continue to grow traffic, routes, tourism and jobs."

A record 1.4m people passed through Edinburgh Airport in September.