At a press conference on Wednesday Michael O’Leary, the CEO of budget airline Ryanair, unveiled new routes from UK airports including Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and London
Ryanair is launching 22 new routes(Image: Getty)
Ryanair has unveiled its newly expanded winter schedule, with 22 new routes from UK airports added.
The budget airline will be adding 22 destinations to its schedule this winter, with Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and London airports benefiting the most.
This morning, Ryanair also announced that it was adding nineteenth-based aircraft at Manchester Airport this winter, helping it to run one extra route from the North West hub. Ryanair is increasing its flight frequencies on another 26 routes from Manchester, including holiday hotspots like Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Madrid, as well as city break destinations like Barcelona, Belfast, Venice, Porto, Prague and Krakow.
There are many eye-catching flights among the list, including the new winter sunshine route from Birmingham to Marrakech, which regularly enjoys mild winter temperatures. The bulk of the other routes are to northern and western European destinations where more festive pleasures are on the itinerary.
The new routes are:
- Birmingham – Copenhagen
- Birmingham – Rome Fiumicino
- Birmingham – Marrakech
- Birmingham – Tirana
- Birmingham – Warsaw Modlin
- Bristol – Knock
- Bristol – Warsaw Modlin
- East Midlands – Budapest
- Edinburgh – Milan Malpensa
- Edinburgh – Tirana
- Edinburgh – Warsaw Modlin
- London Stansted – Glasgow
- London Stansted – Malmö
- London Stansted – Parma
- London Luton – Venice
- Liverpool – Milan Bergamo
- Liverpool – Copenhagen
- Liverpool – Gdańsk
- Liverpool – Porto
- Liverpool – Tirana
- Liverpool – Warsaw
- Manchester – Warsaw Modlin
The new route announcement came as the boss of Ryanair warned that air fares would “no doubt” rise next year for summer holidaymakers amid the surging price of oil and the Iran war. Earlier this month, oil prices rose above 100 dollars a barrel for the first time since July after the latest round of strikes in the conflict.
At a press conference yesterday Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the budget airline, said ticket prices were “only going one way”, which is “significantly upward”. He said: “Fares for Ryanair passengers and every other passenger into the summer of 2027 are going to rise materially, I believe, because of significantly higher oil prices.
“I have no doubt fares are rising next year. “The question is by how much. We’re essentially hedged this year at about 80 dollars a barrel. If we hedge next year at 100 dollars a barrel, our oil bill goes up by 25%. Our oil bill this year is six billion. If it goes up by 25%, that’s seven-and-a-half billion next year.”
The airline has previously warned that it believes some of its competitors will “struggle to maintain capacity or even survive” this winter if oil prices remain high. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the average global price of jet fuel rose 7.4% last week compared to the week before to 194.90 dollars per barrel.