Ryanair has announced a $1 billion investment into Edinburgh Airport that will bring its biggest summer schedule to date in the Scottish capital.
The investment will support 300 highly paid aviation jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs at Edinburgh airport, with two additional based aircraft for summer 2022, in a $200m incremental investment, the airline said.
Ryanair’s Edinburgh based fleet will increase to 10 based aircraft, five of which will be Boeing 737 8-200 “Gamechanger” aircraft which deliver four per cent more seats, burn 16% less fuel and create 40% less noise emissions, it said.
Its 65 routes include eight new destinations to Bari, Cork, Madrid, Marrakesh, Nimes, Palermo, Paris, and Santiago.
Ryanair will operate 250 weekly flights for Summer 2022, which is 50 more than pre pandemic Summer 2019.
Ryanair has also reiterated on the UK Government to fully abolish Airport Passenger Duty (APD) for all travel to help deliver growth.
Jason McGuinness, Ryanair’s director of commercial, said: “As Europe’s and Edinburgh’s largest airline, Ryanair is pleased to deliver our biggest ever Edinburgh schedule with two additional based aircraft for Summer 2022 ($200m incremental investment).
“Ryanair’s Edinburgh based fleet will increase to 10 aircraft ($1bn total investment), five of which will be Boeing 737 8-200 Gamechanger aircraft. This larger fleet will deliver 65 routes in total, including eight new routes to exciting destinations such as Nimes, Marrakesh, and Zadar along with increased frequencies to holiday favourites such as Malaga and Alicante.”
He added: “Efficient operations and competitive airport charges provide the foundation from which Ryanair can deliver long-term traffic growth and increased connectivity. We worked closely with our partners in Edinburgh airport to secure this growth and improve the services for those that live, work, or wish to visit the region.
“Ryanair now calls on the UK Government to further support this traffic recovery by scrapping APD completely. The 50% reduction proposed for 2023 is too little, too late for post-covid recovery since APD puts UK airports at a severe cost disadvantage versus their European competitors.
Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport chief executive, said: “Ryanair's continued expansion at Edinburgh is extremely encouraging and is a huge show of confidence in the Edinburgh market.
"Aviation will play an important role in the recovery of the Scottish and UK economies and to be in a position where Ryanair are offering more than they did pre-pandemic is a very good place for us to be in, especially when five of the based aircraft will be the quietest and most environmentally friendly in the industry.
"We know there's a pent-up demand for travel and we want to offer choice to people, which is why we are looking to both retain and grow Edinburgh's connectivity. We must work with partners including airlines and governments to ensure Scotland is flexible in its approach and is seizing new opportunities that arise."
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