Ryanair has announced that it will be basing a third Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 at Newcastle Airport for the Winter 25/26, which will bring new routes and 120,000 additional seats to the North East hub. With the arrival of the aircraft, the airline will launch routes to Brussels, Budapest, Gdańsk, Malta, and Wrocław, and will also add additional flights to the Alicante, Dublin, and Kraków routes.
“This expansion will deliver over 1 million passengers for Ryanair over the next 12 months, reflecting the strength of our partnership and the growing demand for connectivity from the North East to key European destinations,” said Newcastle Airport’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Knight. “Brussels is a brand new connection for the Airport’s departure board and will provide great connectivity for both leisure and business passengers to the capital of Belgium. The addition of more winter flights to Budapest, Gdansk, Malta and Wroclaw will provide additional flight options for passengers looking to explore these popular destinations from the region.”
“This Winter Ryanair will operate a record schedule at Newcastle that will deliver more than 1m annual passengers thanks to the hard work of Newcastle Airport to remain competitive despite Labour’s reckless decision to increase the regressive APD tax,” commented Ryanair’s CCO, Jason McGuinness. “As an island economy on the periphery of Europe, it is vital that UK airports particularly in the regions offer competitive access costs to airlines. The excessive UK APD tax imposes GBP 13 on all UK citizens/visitors, making air travel from the UK uncompetitive, particularly when other European countries, like Sweden, Hungary, and Italy, are lowering costs and cutting taxes to encourage rapid traffic and tourism growth.
He continued: “Conversely the UK Govt. has decided to further increase this tax by GBP+2 (+15 per cent) from April ’26 costing UK regions jobs, tourism and economic growth. Ryanair calls on Rachel Reeves to scrap this penal tax and allow UK connectivity, employment and tourism to flourish. If the UK Govt. abolishes APD Ryanair will respond with its ambitious growth plan for the UK to increase annual traffic by 27m (+50 per cent to 80m pax p.a), base +30 additional aircraft (USD 3bn investment), launch 200 routes (800 total) and create 20,000 jobs.”
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Photo: Newcastle Airport
