CALLS ON UK GOVT TO SCRAP APD TO DELIVER GROWTH

Ryanair, the UK’s No.1 low fares airline, today (27^th Aug) announced 4 new London routes (Dubrovnik, Linz, Reggio & Sarajevo) for W2024, giving UK citizens/visitors even more choice at the lowest fares in Europe this Winter. Ryanair operates over 640 routes to/from the UK, carrying over 57m passengers p.a. on its fleet of 117 UK-based aircraft ($12bn investment), providing UK citizens/visitors with unbeatable choice, industry leading reliability, and the lowest fares, while driving year-round tourism to/from the UK which supports over 45,000 British jobs.

While Ryanair continues to invest and grow traffic & tourism in London and Provincial Cities across Britain, UK airports and passengers are suffering the highest burden of APD, which puts UK tourism at a major disadvantage against EU competitors. Ryanair can grow UK traffic, jobs, and tourism but the new Labour Govt must immediately scrap this unfair and unjustified APD tax if they are serious about implementing policies to deliver growth. They must also demand urgent reform of UK NATS inefficient yet very expensive ATC system, and change its incompetent leadership, who continue to mismanage UK airspace.

Ryanair calls on the new UK Govt to abolish APD for all travel, which will allow Ryanair to deliver ambitious growth for the UK for the rest of the decade, as follows;

1. Grow UK traffic by 14% to 65m passengers p.a. by 2030
2. Create 1,000 new jobs for UK pilots, cabin crew, and engineers by 2030
3. Open a new engineering training facility at Prestwick
4. Base 20 new Boeing MAX-10 aircraft (worth $2 billion) at UK airports
5. These new B737 aircraft deliver 20% more seats with 20% less fuel & 50% less noise

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“We are pleased to announce 4 new Ryanair routes from London to Dubrovnik, Linz, Reggio & Sarajevo for W2024, adding to Ryanair’s UK schedule of over 640 routes, giving UK citizens/visitors even more choice at the lowest airfares in the UK.

As an island economy on the periphery of Europe, it is vital that Ryanair continues to grow low-cost air access to/from the UK. Britain’s tourism growth is being hampered by UK APD, which unfairly imposes a £13 tax on all UK citizens/visitors, making air travel to/from the UK less competitive, particularly when other EU States, like Poland, Croatia, Italy, and Spain are lowering costs and cutting taxes, while growing rapidly.

If the UK Govt scraps APD on all flights, Ryanair will respond with rapid traffic growth for the rest of this decade, including 1,000 new jobs, 20 new UK based aircraft (additional $2bn investment) and a 14% growth in UK traffic to 65m passengers p.a. by 2030, just as we have done in Italy, where we added 3 new aircraft ($300m investment) & over 20 new routes following the decision of regions, like Calabria, to scrap the Italian Municipal Tax.”