EDINBURGH is on course for further major expansion by Ryanair next year despite the looming recession, the airport's managing director has told The Scotsman.
Three more Ryanair aircraft are due to be based there by 2010, bringing the total to five. Gordon Dewar said that would see Edinburgh eclipse Prestwick as the airline's largest Scottish base.
The news came as Ryanair yesterday heralded the delayed
launch of 11 new links from Edinburgh, which form part of Scotland's largest-ever air routes expansion.
The flights, which include the country's first services to Bratislava, near Vienna, and Lodz in Poland, were postponed from September because of problems with the delivery of new planes from aircraft makers Boeing.
Ryanair will operate 23 routes from Edinburgh this winter compared to only two a year ago. It expects to carry 1.2 million passengers a year – one in ten of the airport's passengers. Dozens more routes are likely to follow if more aircraft are based there.
Ryanair has five aircraft at Prestwick, carrying more than 2 million passengers a year on 29 routes.
Mr Dewar said: "Ryanair do not open a base if they don't have aggressive expansion plans. Bases operate at optimal efficiency with at least five aircraft."
The full article contains 213 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
