Ryanair has added more new routes for summer 2022 to create its largest ever summer schedule from London airports as it looks to make a rapid recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Irish carrier will introduce 14 new routes to take its total number of destinations from Gatwick, Luton and Stansted up to 181 during the summer 2022 season.
New destinations for Ryanair from London airports will include Helsinki, Maastricht, Naples, Stockholm and Tangier in Morocco.
Group chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “Ryanair is driving London’s post-Covid recovery as we grow across Europe, with new aircraft and new routes.
“Despite launching our biggest ever schedule, the UK government failed to support this recovery by delaying the reduction in APD (Air Passenger Duty) until 2023.
“Ryanair again calls on the UK government to scrap APD completely, to allow airlines and airports to quickly restore traffic, jobs, and tourism.”
Ryanair also announced that it had carried 8.7 million passengers in February, up from just 500,000 in February 2021 when most of Europe was under Covid-19 lockdowns.
This was an improvement from the airline's seven million passengers in January, when traffic was “badly affected” by the spread of the Omicron variant around the continent and the imposition of travel restrictions.
The airline recorded an improved load factor of 86 per cent in February 2022, which was up from 79 per cent in January.