Ryanair is celebrating having a base at Edinburgh Airport for 15 years and also flying its 33 millionth passenger to and from the capital.
The airline began flying from Edinburgh in 2001 when they were a much smaller airline, but since 2008 Ryanair has had both aircraft and 330 direct members of crew based in the capital. This the airline says gave it more leverage in terms of “international connectivity” or flying to more places. With 11 aircraft based here representing an investment of £1.1 billion the airline says it supports more than 3,800 local jobs.
From there the airline has grown to serve 33 million passengers from the capital, and say that they are the biggest operator at Edinburgh Airport with 33% of the market share.
Jade Kirwan, Head of Communications for Ryanair said: “For all the passengers who pass through Edinburgh Airport we are responsible for a third of them. This is phenomenal given that Edinburgh is the sixth busiest airport in the UK but we are the only airline which is growing there at the moment. We have grown ten percentage points in the last four years or so. easyJet who are our closest competitor have not grown in that same time period and have remained static. And British Airways have declined by two percentage points in the same period.”
This summer Ryanair will offer 50 flights from Edinburgh on 69 routes which includes six new ones to Belfast, Bournemouth, London, Newquay, Rhodes and Venice. There are more routes and planes are flying to and from the Scottish capital more often.
Asked about what next Ms Kirwan explained this is the busy time, and Ryanair in common with other airlines will quieten down a bit for winter, but the new summer schedules will be announced in the coming weeks.
As to environmental credentials the airline operates a young fleet with their Gamechanger aircraft which have more seats on board each plane reducing “fuel burn” and noise emissions. Ryanair is also investing in more environmentally friendly technology by buying sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and has invested €1.5 million in research being conducted at Trinity College Dublin into SAF and ways of making aviation more sustainable.
Ms Kirwan said: “We are not saying that we are solving the problems but we are taking strides forward to at least try.”
The news today is of an important milestone in the history of the company and of Edinburgh Airport.
Ms Kirwan said: “We are delighted to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of our Edinburgh base as well as 33 million Ryanair passengers through Edinburgh Airport. Ryanair has operated at Edinburgh Airport since 2001 and our record Summer ’23 schedule of more than 69 routes will not only provide Edinburgh’s customers/visitors with an unbeatable selection of sunny hotspots and vibrant European city break destinations for their Summer ’23 getaways, particularly across Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Morocco where we operate exclusively to/from Edinburgh Airport, but will continue to promote important regional development through the support of over 3,800 local jobs, and delivery of even greater connectivity with Europe and its millions of holidaymakers.
“To celebrate this significant milestone, we have launched a special seat sale with fares from £29.99 for travel between July and Sept available only at Ryanair.com.”
Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport said:“Both Edinburgh Airport and Ryanair have come a long way since that first flight, recording tremendous growth in passengers and routes, so it’s brilliant to be celebrating this anniversary and passenger milestone with each other.
We both look to provide choice where we can, and the expansion of Ryanair at Edinburgh is a real success story and shows the strength of the offer and our relationship. We look forward to working with Ryanair going forward and bringing even more exciting destinations to Scotland’s airport.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
