One Extra Based Aircraft (3 Total, $300m Investment) 3 New Routes (23 Total)

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (16^th Feb), announced its exciting Summer schedule from Leeds Bradford with one additional based aircraft for Summer 2022 (a $100m incremental investment). Ryanair’s Leeds Bradford based fleet will increase to 3 based aircraft, an investment of over $300m supporting 90 highly paid aviation jobs and 900 indirect jobs at Leeds Bradford airport.

Ryanair’s Leeds Bradford Summer Schedule will deliver:

• 3 based aircraft
• $300m investment in Leeds Bradford
• 23 total routes including 3 new destinations to Barcelona, Paris and Zadar
• Over 95 weekly flights
• Over 900 total jobs

Ryanair will operate over 95 weekly flights for Summer 2022 (10+ more than pre pandemic Summer 2019) to give Leeds Bradford’s holiday makers an abundance of choice to top European destinations in France, Spain, and Croatia whilst also giving UK tourism a much needed boost after two lost Summers.

In order to deliver even more growth and recovery in Leeds Bradford, Ryanair calls on the UK Govt to fully abolish Airport Passenger Duty (APD) immediately for all travel. While the proposed cut is a step in the right direction, it is simply not enough. The UK Govt missed an opportunity to kickstart tourism recovery, particularly for Summer 2022, by delaying the reduction in APD until 2023. Since the cut applies only to domestic travel, it ignores the need to restore international connectivity which is fundamental for the growth of the UK economy and tourism.

Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness said:

“As Europe’s largest airline, Ryanair is pleased to deliver our Leeds Bradford schedule with one additional based aircraft for Summer 2022 ($100m incremental investment). Ryanair’s Leeds Bradford based fleet will increase to 3 aircraft ($300m total investment). This larger fleet will deliver 23 routes in total, including 3 new routes to exciting destinations such as Paris, Barcelona, and Zadar along with increased frequencies to holiday favourites such as Faro and Tenerife.

Efficient operations and competitive airport charges provide the foundation from which Ryanair can deliver long-term traffic growth and increased connectivity. We worked closely with our partners in Leeds Bradford airport to secure this growth and improve the services for those that live, work, or wish to visit the region.

Ryanair now calls on the UK Government to further support this traffic recovery by scrapping APD completely. The 50% reduction proposed for 2023 is too little, too late for post-covid recovery since APD puts UK airports at a severe cost disadvantage versus their European competitors.

To celebrate our Summer schedule to/from Leeds Bradford, we are launching a 3-day seat sale with fares available from £19,99 for travel until October 2022, which must be booked by Friday 18^th February. Since these amazing low fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com to avoid missing out.”

Leeds Bradford Airport’s Aviation Director Nicola McMullen said: 

“We are continually working at LBA to increase choice for passengers and introduce new and exciting routes, the announcement today from Ryanair is an important step towards this and illustrates the potential in LBA for the future. As well as creating more jobs in our region and driving economic benefits, the announcement comes at a time when we are really starting to see an acceleration in bounce back from the pandemic and we are gearing up for a busy summer. We look forward to welcoming new and existing passengers at LBA visiting these exciting destinations.”

LEEDS BRADFORD – 3 NEW S’22 ROUTES

• Barcelona Reus
• Paris Beauvais
• Zadar