Ryanair has announced its winter 2024 schedule for Bristol with 30 routes including five winter sun and city break routes. The new routes are to Copenhagen, Fuerteventura, Marrakesh, Prague, and Tirana. The budget airline operates more than 640 routes across the UK. Concurrently, as they announce the new routes, Ryanair is also calling on the new UK government to scrap air passenger duty (APD).
According to Ryanair, the expansion into Bristol this summer is in response to high demand for the airport and the availability of aircraft for operations there. The airline aims to return to pre-Covid levels and regain its position before the pandemic struck in 2020. Jade Kirwan, Ryanair’s head of communications, stated, “We are pleased to announce our winter 2024 schedule for Bristol, which includes five exciting new routes to Copenhagen, Fuerteventura, Marrakesh, Prague, and Tirana, giving customers in the southwest even more choice at the lowest airfares in Europe.”
Speaking about the APD, Kirwan emphasised the importance of growing low-cost air access to and from the UK, particularly for regions heavily impacted by the tax. Ryanair proposes that if the UK government eliminates APD on all flights, the airline would respond with significant traffic growth, including the creation of 1,000 new jobs, 20 new UK-based aircraft, and a 14% increase in UK traffic to 65 million passengers per year by 2030.
By abolishing APD, Ryanair believes they can replicate the success seen in other countries such as Italy and Sweden, where similar tax adjustments led to increased investments, job creation, and route expansions. Ryanair’s plea for the removal of APD aligns with their strategy to support tourism growth and foster competitiveness in the aviation industry.