Ryanair Launches Five New Routes From Shannon
To Biarritz, Carcassonne, Faro, Krakow & Venice

And also frequency increases to Barcelona, Malaga & Milan

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (Wednesday, 29th March 2006) announced five new routes from its Shannon base to Biarritz and Carcassonne in the South of France, Faro in Portugal, Krakow in Poland and Venice in Italy, as well as increased frequency on routes from Shannon to Barcelona Malaga and Milan. The new routes will start on 12th October and bring the total number of destinations served by Ryanair in Shannon to 24.

In Shannon today, Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary said:

"Ryanair’s expansion makes Shannon one of the best served regions of its size anywhere in Europe and is a major boost to tourism and business in the mid-west, bringing 240 new jobs, 240,000 additional passengers and €55M more tourism spend."

"From September, Ryanair will base a fourth Boeing 737-800 aircraft in Shannon, bringing our investment in Shannon to over $240M that will deliver 1.7M passengers per annum, sustain 1,700 jobs in the mid-west and allow passengers to enjoy savings of €170M compared to the high fares of Aer Lingus."

"These five new routes are available today on www.ryanair.com and we advise passengers to book early as demand will be very strong."

Niall Gibbons, Director of Corporate Services and Policy, Tourism Ireland, said:

"Overseas visitors performance from Europe was the powerhouse of tourism growth last year, fuelled largely by the excellent growth in air access by Ryanair and other carriers. The 40% increase in direct air access from Europe into the island of Ireland last summer underpinned a record-breaking performance from the European markets, which saw  overseas visits grow by almost 20%. Tourism Ireland will continue with its policy of encouraging the best possible regional spread when carriers are considering introducing new routes and services. Our ultimate goal is to increase the number of overseas visitors to the island of Ireland in 2006 to 8.5 million and we look forward to working closely with Ryanair and other carriers to help achieve our goal."

Martin Moroney, Director of Shannon Airport said:
 
"This is another exciting day for Shannon International Airport. The further development of Ryanair's Shannon base is a great boost for the airport and the region and further establishes Shannon as Ireland's low cost gateway. We are also delighted to see Ryanair add additional frequencies to their  Barcelona, Malaga and Milan routes, as this proves the success of these routes in their first year of operation. We wish Ryanair every success with these additional routes and urge the business and tourist sector to fully capitalise on this increased connectivity to Europe."

NEW ROUTES

Destination	Days	Fare*	Commencement Date
Biarritz	1 - - - 5 - - 7	€4.99	12th October 2006
Carcassonne	-2 - - 5 - - 7	€4.99	12th October 2006
Faro	- -3 - - - 6-	€9.99	12th October 2006
Krakow	- - - 4 - - 6 -	€9.99	12th October 2006
Venice	1 -  3 - 5  - 7	€5.99	12th October 2006

INCREASED FREQUENCIES
 

Destination	Days	Fare*	Commencement Date
Girona	1 – 3 4  5 - 7	€21.49	12th October 2006
Malaga	1 - 3 -  6 -	€9.99	12th October 2006
Milan	1 - 3 - 5 - 7	€24.99	12th October 2006

* One-way excluding taxes

ENDS.    

Wednesday, 29th March 2006