Ryanair marks 15 years of Birmingham base

The Irish low-cost airline celebrates 15 year of having a base at the airport on June 8.

Ryanair’s head of communications Jade Kirwan said that it was set for its biggest ever summer schedule from Birmingham where it has invested £530 million in basing six of its jets.

To mark the anniversary a special seat sale with fares from £29.99 for travel between July and September from Birmingham is available on Ryanair.com

Ryanair was the first low-cost airline to operate at Birmingham Airport, starting with its first flight from Knock Airport in 1987.

The addition of extra aircraft means the airline expects to carry 2.8 million passengers a year to and from Birmingham Airport. Most popular routes are to mainland Spain and the Canaries.

Jade Kirwan said nice steady growth had been experienced over the years at Birmingham and the investment was because of the huge opportunity with the airport serving such a big area.

She said that Ryanair had built up a strong relationship with the airport and it was now the biggest operator based there ahead of Jet2 and would be able to respond to growing demand for leisure flights from the West Midlands.

"The potential for further growth in the future is there. Our schedule will certainly grow in coming years.

"we are in a good position with six aircraft and there is no reason why the strong growth at Birmingham should stop."

Ryanair’s Birmingham summer schedule will deliver 42 routes, including seven new, and more than 355 flights per week.

It is now supporting more than 2,300 jobs at the airport including180 direct jobs.

Nick Barton, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, said: “In the 15 years since they created a base for four of their aircraft here in Birmingham, Ryanair have gone from strength to strength – a story which informed their move this year to base two further aircraft here, bringing the total to six.

"This major investment in Birmingham sets us up for further success in the next 15 years of Ryanair serving customers in and around the West Midlands – a fast-growing region home to six million people with an economy the size of Hungary.”