Despite the French air strike held in June, there has been an increased number of passengers for Ryanair, the largest operator at Stansted, which has seen an increase in the air links. The route from Stansted to Glasgow and Edinburgh is being established as of the winter schedule which was to be expanded from the Essex airport.
Other 12 routes are currently being set up in addition to the frequencies increased in 36 other services and the carrier has called again for abolishment of Air Passenger Duty. The airline plans to change the Prestwick – Dublin route, to Glasgow international airport in addition to the already existing Edinburgh to Dublin service.
This comes alongside a plan to create a third Scottish base at Glasgow International involving seven new routes including Riga, Warsaw, Derry, Bydgoszcz, Modlin and Wroclaw which were scheduled for this winter. The seven winter routes from Prestwick to Girona, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife, Malaga and Alicante are to be maintained. Ryanair however indicates that their base still remains at Prestwick despite the switch to the Dublin route, since Prestwick has their major maintenance facility.
Ryanair is currently having discussions with Prestwick and the new Scottish government to help explore further opportunities for growth from the west coast airport.
The expansion plans had been as a result of calls from both the London and Scottish governments to follow the steps of Irish government to abolish air taxes without considering the outcome of the vote on independence for Scotland in September.
David O’Brien, Ryanair Chief Commercial Officer, said that it is important for the Scottish government to remove the Air Passenger Duty in order to achieve true tourism potential. The Irish government welcomed the decision too.
The Chief Marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs also urged the UK government to cancel the APD to help boost tourism and growth of jobs.
By Oliver Derek
