Ryanair expands at Weeze

Ryanair will expand their operation at Weeze airport (or Dusseldorf as they like to call it) this winter. From 27 October 2008 they will begin flying from Weeze to Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, Tenerife (Sur), Santander, Faro, Ancona, Oslo (Torp), Gothenburg (Saeve) and Riga.

Massive additions to Ryanair winter flight schedule

Although Ryanair have made it known that they intend to ground some of their fleet this winter due to the high cost of oil, they have just announced details of 40 new routes that they will begin flying this winter. The new routes begin from the end of October 2008, and include:

• Bremen to Fuerteventura, Gothenburg (Saeve), Marrakech and Tenerife (Sur)
• Bournemouth to Milan (Orio al Serio) and Paris (Orly)
• Bristol to Gdansk, Marrakech and Szczecin
• Brussels (Charleroi) to Fez, Gdansk, Manchester, Marrakech, Riga, Tangier and Wroclaw
• Frankfurt (Hahn) to Birmingham, Klagenfurt and Prague
• Glasgow (Prestwick) to Faro, Malaga and Tenerife (Sur)
• London (Luton) to Beziers, Derry, Kaunas, Rzeszow, Szczecin and Trapani
• Madrid to London (Stansted) and Milan (Orio al Serio)
• Marseille to Agadir, Brest, Lille, Nador and Tangier
• Milan (Orio al Serio) to Berlin (Schoenefeld), Bournemouth, Brindisi, Fez, Ibiza and Madrid

Click4Sky - a new European virtual low-cost airline

Click4Sky is a new low-cost airline created by CSA Czech Airlines. Unlike most other low-cost airlines, Click4Sky does not operate any flights - instead it is being used as a marketing brand in order to sell unsold seats on existing CSA flights. In addition, the airline will sell all seats at a fixed price. Customers travelling with Click4Sky will experience exactly the same on-board service as those travelling with CSA.

They will sell tickets on flights to 36 European destinations from their Prague hub. These will include flights to: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin (Tegel), Bologna (Guglielmo Marconi), Bratislava, Brussels (International), Budapest, Copenhagen, Cologne-Bonn, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt (International), Hamburg (Fuhlsbuettel), Hanover, Istanbul (Ataturk), Kosice, Krakow, Ljubljana, London (Heathrow), London (Stansted), Madrid, Manchester, Milan (Malpensa), Munich, Oslo (International), Riga, Rome (Fiumicino), Thessaloniki, Stuttgart, Tallinn, Venice (Marco Polo), Vienna, Vilnius and Zurich.

Eight new Ryanair routes from Shannon

Ryanair continue to grow at Shannon with the announcement that they will launch eight new routes this November. These will include flights from Shannon to London (Luton), Birmingham, Leeds Bradford, Dublin, Tenerife (North), Fuerteventura, Riga and Kaunas.

Ryanair makes Bristol their 20th base

Today, Ryanair announced that Bristol would become their 20th European base. They announced 13 new routes from their airport, which will begin from November 2007. These include flights from Bristol to Bratislava, Riga, Katowice, Rzeszow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Budapest, Salzburg, Oporto, Knock, Milan (Orio al Serio) and Dinard. This move may surprise some, given that Bristol is a well established easyJet base, and has been for many years.

Ryanair had also announced a new route from Bristol to Derry, but the future of Derry became uncertain today when it had its license to operate flights revoked by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. All flights to Derry are suspended with immediate effect.

Ryanair to launch 9 new routes from Milan

Ryanair continues their expansion, as they have announced that they will add nine new routes from their Milan (Orio al Serio) base during December 2007/January 2008. They will begin flying from Milan (Orio al Serio) to Alghero, Bari, Cagliari, Billund, Santander, Oporto, Riga and Gothenburg (Saeve).

2 new Ryanair routes from East Midlands

Ryanair will begin flying two new routes from East Midlands from October 2007. They will begin flying from East Midlands to Riga and Budapest.

Trondheim to Riga with Norwegian

Norwegian Air Shuttle will launch a new route from their Trondheim base in Norway to Riga in Latvia. They will fly twice per week on this new route, and tickets can be booked at www.norwegian.no.

Bremen is made Ryanair’s 17th base

Ryanair will make Bremen their 17th European base airport. They will base two aircraft there from April 2007, and will launch nine new routes. The new routes will include flights to London (Stansted), Girona, Murcia, Tampere, Riga, Verona (Villafranca), Venice (Treviso), Pisa and Oslo (Torp).

New routes from Glasgow and Frankfurt for Ryanair

Ryanair will launch 6 new routes at the end of October 2006. They will begin flying from Glasgow (Prestwick) to Riga and Eindhoven, and from their Frankfurt (Hahn) base to Valencia, Nantes, Balaton  and Biarritz.

Ryanair adds Riga route from Dublin

Ryanair will continue their expansion of routes to Riga, when they launch a new route between Dublin and Riga on 09 January 2006. This flight will operate daily and is available to purchase already.

2 new destinations for Norwegian

From 10 November, Norwegian Air Shuttle will begin flying 2 new routes, from Oslo to Riga and Gdansk.

These routes will be the first low-cost flights to Norway from these respective airports.

Ryanair launches 8 new routes to Britain

Ryanair have announced that they will add 8 new routes to Britain during the forthcoming winter season.

In particular, they have announced an expansion at Liverpool, where they will begin flying to Oslo (Torp), Riga, Bergerac and Carcassonne.

They will also begin flying to Krakow for the first time from London (Stansted) and Glasgow (Prestwick). This will see Ryanair introduce the 4th low-cost route from London to Krakow, and they will compete directly with SkyEurope, who already fly from Stansted.

Toulon becomes another new destination for Ryanair - they will begin flying there from Stansted in October 2005.

Ryanair will also begin operating a route from Oslo (Torp) to Newcastle. While Newcastle is not currently a base for Ryanair, this may indicate an intention to expand further there.

Ryanair adds routes from Stansted

As expected, Ryanair today announced details of their new routes from London (Stansted). This includes a route to Kaunas, their first Lithuanian route, and the first low-cost connection from outside Scandinavia to Lithuania. Flights will commence on 22 September 2005.

They will also launch 3 new routes to Lodz in Poland (another new Ryanair destination, and a new destination for the European budget route map), Poznan and Grenoble.

Ryanair also announced that they would be increasing frequencies on their routes from Stansted to Derry, Seville, Granada, Riga and Tampere.

Ryanair expand in Stockholm

Ryanair have announced today that they are expanding their base at Stockholm (Skavsta). From 21 February 2005 they will base 1 new aircraft at the airport and add 3 more routes, bringing the total number of Ryanair routes from Skavsta to 12.

The new routes from Skavsta include Niederrhein, Girona and a short hop across the Baltic sea to Riga.

easyJet expand into the Baltics

Since EU enlargement in May this year, many have been waiting with bated breath for further expansion by budget airlines into eastern Europe and the Baltics. Today, following Ryanair’s recent decision to begin flying to Riga, easyJet have also announced that they will begin flying to Riga, initially with one route from Berlin (Schoenefeld). Flights will begin on 18 November 2004.

In addition, easyJet will become the first low-cost airline to fly from the UK and Germany to Estonia. They will begin flights from London (Stansted) and Berlin (Schoenefeld) to the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on 1 November and 28 October respectively.

Ryanair becomes the first budget airline to fly to Latvia

Many people have been waiting for Ryanair to announce new routes further east into Europe after an initial early promise to do so by the airline. Today, Ryanair have done just that by announcing new routes to Riga, making them the first budget airline to fly to the recent EU-addition, Latvia, and the first budget airline to fly from the UK to any of the Baltic states.

Ryanair will begin flights to Riga on 31 October from London (Stansted), Frankfurt (Hahn) and Tampere.

In addition, Ryanair have added 2 further destinations to the budget-flying map, Santander and Zaragoza in Spain. They will fly to Zaragoza from London (Stansted) (beginning 01 December 2004) and to Santander from London (Stansted), Rome (Ciampino) and Frankfurt (Hahn) (beginning 20 September 2004).