Ryanair has promised to increase capacity from Irish airports after the country’s government scrapped its air passenger charge.
The Irish government announced that it would axe its €3 per passenger tax from April 2014 in its budget earlier this week.
Ryanair responded to the decision by vowing that it would increase passenger numbers from Ireland by at least 1 million per year from next spring.
The airline has invited the country’s five major airports - Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry - to meetings in Dublin on Thursday and Friday to discuss the capacity increase which will include new routes and extra frequencies on existing services.
Ryanair's deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said: “Ryanair warmly welcomes the government's decision to repeal the €3 travel tax.
“This travel tax (originally €10) in 2009 caused Irish air travel and tourism to suffer precipitous losses in recent years. The repeal of the air travel tax helps restore Ireland's competitiveness and attractiveness to overseas visitors from the UK and continental Europe in particular.”
Campaigners against Air Passenger Duty (APD) have seized on the Irish government’s decision to push for a cut or abolition of the UK aviation tax.
Simon Buck, chief executive of BATA said: “The Irish government has gone the way of Holland and Denmark, and abolished their version of APD.
“Even though their air tax was much lower than the UK’s to start with the Irish felt compelled to act. I dread to think of the damage that the UK’s sky-high APD is doing to our economy and aviation and tourism industries.”
Dale Keller, chief executive of BAR UK, added: “The UK government can no longer afford to stand isolated in Europe and lose more business to surrounding countries with massively lower aviation taxes.”