£80m investment opens up new routes from Leeds Bradford Airport

AIRLINE Ryanair has revealed plans to open a base at Leeds Bradford International Airport launching 14 new routes as part of an investment of more than £80m at the Yorkshire site.

The new routes from Leeds Bradford, which include Carcassonne, Faro, Ibiza, Knock, Krakow, Limoges and Malaga, are expected to challenge Jet2.com's dominance at the airport when they launch in March next year.

Ryanair's base at Leeds Bradford will be its 34th and will increase its traffic at the airport to 1m passengers per year, which it said will help to create and sustain 1,000 jobs in Yorkshire.

The other new routes flying from Leeds Bradford are Malta, Montpellier, Murcia, Nantes, Palma, Pisa and Venice Treviso.

Responding to Ryanair's announcement, Philip Meeson, Jet2.com's chief executive said any investment at Leeds Bradford had to be viewed as positive but added he believed Jet2.com's "transparent pricing combined with excellent customer service will continue to prove a favourite to local travellers".

Ryanair, which already flys from Leeds Bradford to Dublin, Alicante and Girona at Barcelona, will have two aircraft based at the airport and will offer 63 weekly return flights to and from the airport.

As part of the announcement Ryanair is releasing 1m £5 seats for travel across its European network in October and November which are available for booking until midnight on Thursday.

Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said: "Ryanair is delighted to announce Leeds Bradford as our 34th base and our 11th UK base airport.

"With a total of 17 low fare routes from Leeds Bradford next summer passengers can beat the recession by choosing Ryanair's guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges to 17 exciting destinations all over Europe including France, Italy and Spain among others. 

"Ryanair's 1 million passengers will create and sustain 1,000 jobs locally at Leeds Bradford Airport."

Mr O'Leary said the new services would attract Yorkshire passengers who normally travel to Manchester Airport for holiday flights. 
 
John Parkin, chief executive at LBIA, said: "This is a great vote of confidence in the potential of both the airport and our region from Europe's largest airline.

"Today's announcement makes us an exception in the sector and will help create much needed jobs. It shows Ryanair shares our confidence in the tremendous opportunity for strong market growth at the airport.

"Significantly it follows recent planning approval for the terminal development to deliver best in class facilities and build upon existing routes."

Plans have been passed for the terminal to undergo a £28m facelift and for transport links around the airport to be improved.