Budget airline Ryanair is to add more than one million seats to its schedule from the UK this winter.
The Ireland-based carrier, which is already Europe’s largest airline, said it was making the move in response to rival British Airways announcing that it was cutting its winter capacity by 10,000 flights on Monday (22 August).
Ryanair will add capacity across its UK airports including London Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh this winter to destinations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Morocco, Greece and France.
The airline said that it now expects to carry 166.5 million passengers during 2022, up from its previous estimate of 166.5 million. As a comparison, Ryanair carried 146 million people in 2019.
Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said Ryanair would now offer its “largest ever” UK winter schedule.