RYANAIR has had a busy week announcing that from March 2005 it will base up to four 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft at Liverpool to operate fights to 13 destinations. Currently operating to Dublin and Gerona the airline is adding Cork, Granada, Limoges, Milan, Nimes, Murcia, Pisa, Reus, Rome, Shannon and Treviso (Venice). From Blackpool, 60 miles to the north but also in Lancashire, Girona will join Dublin and Stansted as Ryanair routes. The airline has also stepped in to help with the crisis created by the failure of Volare (see last week”s ABTN). The airline has announced a new twice daily service from Paris (Beauvais) to Treviso which is Ryanair”s 65th international route. Ryanair now flies on nine of the 11 international routes previously flown by Volare from Italy to other EU destinations. Ryanair is operating most of these routes with greater frequency and lower fares than those sold by Volare. Except for Christmas week, where many of the flights are already sold out, the Irish airline is offering free seats to Volare ticket holders except for taxes, subject to availability and first come first served. On the negative side the airline will close the Stansted ” Erfurt route on 19 January 2005 and Girona ” Turin on 1 March 2005.
http://www.ryanair.com