LONDON – Ryanair is presenting its summer plans in preparation for the tourist season which is predicted to hit heavy in Italy and southern European regions since early June.
Italy, in particular, is one of Ryanair’s most profitable markets and in the last years the airline has placed as the major Italian airline, mostly thanks to its cheap and direct flights from even minor Italian destinations with passengers no more needing to pass by major hubs such as Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate.
New “gamechanger” planes and routes from Pisa Galileo Galilei airport
Five new Boeing 737 8-200, new Ryanair’s gamechanger aircraft with low footprint impact, will be based in Pisa.
This represents an 800 million dollar investment that will provide new 240 direct jobs and almost 2700 indirect jobs. Jason McGuinness, commercial director of the airline said:
“Ryanair next summer will operate from Pisa over 500 weekly flights, 90 more than last and previous years, offering the best destination in Europe and boosting Tuscan tourism; we have worked in close contact with our partners who operate in the airport of Pisa”
According to Marco Carrai, president of “Toscana Aeroporti”, the company managing all airports inside the region of Tuscany, the “Ryanair operation out the base of Pisa will be a strong reopening sign for Pisa’s tourism and a boost for all the connections in the region”.
New direct flights from the airport will include Agadir, Palma di Maiorca, Paphos, Memmingen, Breslavia, Cork, and Zurich.
Furthermore, some connections that the airline used to operate before Covid will be finally reactivated, including Warsaw, Wien, Bruxelles, Birmingham, London Luton, and Helsinki.
Venice takes flight, a new base for Ryanair to implement capacity and flights from the Queen of the Sea
New Boeing 737 8-200 will be also based in Venice Marco Polo airport, with a 300 million dollar investment and 100 new direct jobs.
Ryanair continues its expansion in the Veneto region, after opening, last June, its new base in Treviso.
The airline will now offer 24 routes in total from Venice, 17 of which will connect the lacunar city to Comiso (one of the Sicilian destinations that usually remains out of new connections announcements), Crotone, Helsinki, Katowice, Lisbon, Madrid, Minorca; Nurnberg, Stockholm, Toulouse, and Wien.
The airline CEO Eddie Wilson said: “We’re firmly asking the Italian government to suspend or definitively eliminate the tourist tax, which will hit hard on all airline’s passenger until 2025 and which is strongly damaging our and all airlines competitivity in Italy.
The wishes of the airline are to gain to reach, in this summer season, almost 80% of passengers before the pre-pandemic period.
This could resolve in a medium of 800,000 monthly passengers for a total of more than 500 million for the entire season in Italy.
In conclusion, Ryanair seems to be preparing for a great summer, but will it succeed to achieve all its targets?
