New Spanish flights from Leeds Bradford
LOW-COST airline Ryanair is to launch two new routes to Spain from Leeds Bradford International Airport.
The Irish carrier has announced new flights to Girona Barcelona and Alicante from the West Yorkshire airport starting in October with prices starting from £30 including taxes.
The news comes two days after Ryanair cut a number of its flights operating between Dublin and Leeds Bradford because of rising costs.
The new Girona Barcelona route will operate four times weekly from October 1, 2008, while the three times weekly service to Alicante will commence on October 28.
Announcing the new developments at Leeds Bradford today, Ryanair’s Bridget Dowling said: “Ryanair are pleased to offer increased destination choice to Spain this winter offering additional capacity to two important Spanish cities for both business and leisure travellers. Both routes provide exceptional low fares and will deliver record savings for Leeds passengers and for the increasing number of inbound visitors to the West Yorkshire region.
“Direct international routes are fundamental to the economic development of cities like Leeds and Bradford. Travellers across West Yorkshire can now look forward to Europe’s guaranteed lowest fares and best punctuality with Ryanair. Ryanair’s new routes to Girona Barcelona and Alicante will bring a significant increase in European visitors and jobs to West Yorkshire and to the historic city of York.
Tony Hallwood, Leeds Bradford’s commercial and aviation development director said: “We are pleased to see Ryanair developing their range of international services serving the fast growing cities of Leeds and Bradford. We also look forward to working with Ryanair to encourage an increasing number of tourists to our dynamic and diverse region. These exciting new routes will also compliment Ryanair’s successful twice daily flights to Dublin.”
On Tuesday Ryanair said it was cutting the number of flights from Leeds Bradford to Dublin by 31% from 19 to 13 this winter. Ryanair said the move, which will affect other services out of Dublin during its winter schedule, was being made because of surging oil prices.
Ryanair is looking to cut passengers numbers out of Dublin Airport by around 500,000 by reducing weekly routes.
The cutbacks will see 18 Ryanair planes operating from the facility compared with 22 last year.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “It will be the first time for many years that Ryanair has reduced capacity at Dublin Airport.”
The Ryanair boss said he asked for a reduction in the costs, but the request was turned down by Dublin Airport Authority.
