Ryanair used Liverpool Chamber’s Board Room to announce a further commitment to their operation at Liverpool John Lennon Airport with two new destinations to their growing network from Liverpool. This expansion brings Ryanair’s total number of routes served from JLA to 35.

From March and April this year, Ryanair is adding Palma, the capital of Majorca and Alicante, on mainland Spain, to their extensive route network from JLA. This increases the number of Spanish routes which Ryanair operates out of Liverpool to nine.

Flights to Palma will commence on Tuesday 27 March, whilst the Alicante service will begin on Thursday 19 April. Both routes will operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

During the announcement, Caroline Baldwin, Ryanair’s Sales & Marketing Manager for the UK, said: “These two fabulous new routes increase the choice of destinations for Merseyside consumers. Ryanair now operates 35 routes to 12 European countries from JLA and these new routes are available for immediate booking on www.ryanair.com. To celebrate we are offering 5 million FREE seats, so passengers should get online immediately, before they are all snapped up.”

Liverpool Chamber’s Transport Expert, Steve Pearse, commented: “We are delighted to see a further expansion of Ryanair’s operations at JLA, over 60% of the airport’s customers now originate from outside Merseyside and this will improve the airport’s offer further. We know that for every 1000 passengers through the airport one job is created or safeguarded and growth is therefore important to the local economy. Liverpool Chamber is keen to see the continued development of routes serving Liverpool particularly to cater for inbound tourism and business requirements.”

Robin Tudor, General Manager, Corporate and Community Affairs for John Lennon Airport, commented: “These two destinations are always popular with leisure travellers from Merseyside and Ryanair’s news will give more of the region’s passengers the convenience of being able to fly from Liverpool. Currently 2 million passengers a year from the North West travel on flights to these destinations, however the lack of capacity from Liverpool on existing services, means that almost half a million passengers from our natural catchment area fly from elsewhere.”

Above - (Left to right) Robin Tudor, JLA’s General Manager Corporate and Community Affairs, La Tasca Head Chef Javier and Caroline Baldwin, Ryanair’s Sales & Marketing Manager for the UK sample the traditional Spanish dish Paella and a glass of sangria, kindly provided by local restaurant, La Tasca.

However, in the same week, business carrier VLM announced that it was scaling down its service from LJLA to London City Airport from three to two flights a day. Steve Pearse appealed to business to use the service whenever possible and ensure awareness is heightened with all their contacts. It is important that passenger carryings increase in order to ensure this valuable link with the capital is maintained and hopefully restored to its former level.