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Ryanair expansion generates 1,000 jobs

Ryanair have announced plans to expand their Liverpool, Manchester and East Midlands flight offerings, which the airline claims will create over 1,000 jobs.

The expansion will include five new routes from Manchester to Corfu, Krakow, Lanzarote, Paphos and Trapani; two new routes to Lublin and Zadar from Liverpool; and two new routes to Marseille and Menorca from East Midlands.

The firm said it would create 360 jobs in Manchester, 180 in Liverpool and 460 in East Midlands as a result of growth.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said: “Ryanair today celebrates 1m passenger growth at three North West airports, with 9 new routes, which will sustain 1,000 new jobs at Manchester, Liverpool and East Midlands airports.

“Our 34 Manchester routes (including 5 new to Corfu, Krakow, Lanzarote , Paphos and Trapani), 39 Liverpool routes (including 2 new to Lublin and Zadar) and 38 East Midlands routes (including 2 new to Marseille and Menorca) will deliver almost 7m passengers and sustain over 7,000 jobs at Manchester, Liverpool and East Midlands airports in 2013.”

Manchester Airports Group operate Manchester and East Midlands airports, and chief executive Charlie Cornish said: “Today’s announcement by Ryanair is another sign of its continuing confidence in Manchester and willingness to expand its range of services for our passengers.

“We want to work alongside our airlines to grow their services across our airports and the expansion by Ryanair today represents the type of growth opportunities we are actively seeking in the market.”

Craig Richmond, CEO of Peel Airports, which operate Liverpool John Lennon Airport, said: “We’re delighted with Ryanair’s latest commitment to grow their business from Liverpool. Their decision to increase their Liverpool operations for next summer, along with brand new routes, including Zadar on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, is great news both for the airport and the region too.

“It gives holidaymakers an even greater choice of value-for-money destinations next year and a further boost for the local economy with more visitors to Liverpool and the North West.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .