For the summer of 2022, Ryanair will base a 33rd aircraft at Dublin Airport (DUB) and fly more than 900 weekly flights to 120 destinations—the Irish ULCC’s busiest DUB schedule ever.
The carrier announced an additional $100 million investment in its DUB base. Summer routes from Dublin to Croatia, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain account for a large share of the total.
Ryanair announced that it will operate 11 new routes from DUB this summer, compared to 2021, and 22 more routes than in the pre-pandemic summer of 2019.
Agadir (AGA), Morocco; Alghero (AHO), Italy; Cardiff (CWL), Wales; Kosice (KSC), Slovakia; Madeira (FNC), Portugal; Nimes (FNI), France; Nuremberg (NUE), Germany; Plovdiv (PDV), Bulgaria; Sibiu (SBZ) and Suceava (SCV) in Romania; and Zagreb (ZAG), Croatia are among the 11 new destinations added this summer.
Amsterdam (AMS); Barcelona (BCN); Berlin (BER); Brussels (BRU); Brussels Charleroi (CRL); Madrid (MAD); Milan Bergamo (BGY); Milan Malpensa (MXP); Paris Beauvais (BVA); Prague (PRG); Vienna (VIE); and Warsaw (WAW) are among the major European airports Ryanair will serve from DUB in the summer of 2022. (WAW).
The solid summer schedule from DUB is a “direct result” of the Dublin Airport Authority’s (DAA) adoption of its Traffic Recovery Support Scheme, according to Ryanair (TRSS).
“With many airlines cutting capacity and routes this summer, Ireland must lower access costs as it competes with regions and airports in other EU countries for a diminished pool of airline carriers in Europe, which will shrink total short haul seats in Europe by up to 15% this summer,” the airline said in a statement. “Ryanair is the only airline in Europe adding capacity in significant volume.”
Ryanair added: “The TRSS scheme must at a minimum be extended by the [Irish] government into the winter 22/23 season to ensure that Irish inbound tourism, particularly post summer, secures the capacity, connectivity and tourists which are vital to the growth of the Irish economy.“
Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said: “We are pleased to announce our largest ever flight schedule at Dublin Airport this summer … After two years of stop\start ineffective travel restrictions, the DAA have finally been given the tools to incentivise travel with its Traffic Recovery Support Scheme … This scheme gives Ryanair the confidence to invest in our largest ever summer schedule and largest number of based aircraft at Dublin Airport. The DAA TRSS scheme will ensure airport charges are competitively priced vs. other EU countries this summer, and Ryanair have responded by launching its largest ever investment in aircraft, connections and jobs at Dublin Airport.”
Ryanair has pressed airports to provide COVID recovery incentives, citing a lack of such support as a reason for the airline’s departure from both Belfast airports last year.
“Government funding announced in [the Irish government’s] 2022 budget has allowed DAA to offer additional attractive incentives to our airline partners to rebuild international connectivity from Dublin Airport and this investment by Ryanair for the busy summer season ahead is testament to that,” DAA CEO Dalton Philips added.