The Irish low-cost carrier (LCC) Ryanair plans to expand its presence at Paris Beauvais Airport, where it is already the largest operator at the airport in terms of capacity.
From 3 December the LCC will base two aircraft (an investment of $200m) and serve 32 routes (including two new routes to Paphos in Cyprus and Manchester in the UK) connecting Paris to 13 countries across Europe. The investment will see the airline serve more than 105 weekly flights from the airport and generate more than 2,300 direct and indirect jobs.
Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness explained that the airport’s efficient operations and competitive airport charges had been integral to Ryanair’s long-term investment in the hub, as it offers the means for traffic growth and new routes. “We are delighted to announced a $200 million investment at Ryanair’s fourth French base in Paris Beauvais Airport. This development will create over 2,300 direct and indirect jobs at a time when other airlines, including Air France retrench and reduce capacity and investment, despite receiving €7bn in discriminatory State Aid,” he said.
Expressing his delight at the expansion plans, Paris-Beauvais Airport’s Chairman, Francois Rubichon, commented, “Paris-Beauvais Airport is delighted for this achievement and to see such a mark of confidence from our first airline partner, the leading European carrier, Ryanair. ” He added:
Our historic relationship has been strengthened and is now evolving to a new dimension with this operational base, its job an the potential development it will allow, especially in such challenging times for air transport.
Finally, Paris-Beauvais Airport is the first base announced by Ryanair in Europe since the beginning of the crisis and materialises the hard work carried out for several months between SAGEB and Ryanair teams.
