Ryanair will extend its connecting flights service to Milan Bergamo airport from July 3, offering connections between airports throughout Italy and Spain, the Balearics, the Canary Islands and Corfu.
The carrier launched connecting flights with check-through baggage at Rome Fiumicino in May and pledged to expand the service “rapidly” to other major airports.
Only connections between Ryanair flights will be on offer to begin with, but the carrier plans to extend connecting services to long-haul flights through interline agreements with other airlines from the end of this year.
Ryanair announced an agreement with Spanish carrier Air Europa in May, when it began selling Air Europa flights to Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico and the US through Ryanair.com.
It has also said it is talks on connecting flight arrangements with Aer Lingus and Norwegian.
Milan Bergamo will initially offer connections between Bari, Brindisi, Cagliari, Catania, Lamezia, Naples, Palermo, Pescara and Trapani in Italy, and Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Valencia, Zaragoza, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Athens, Corfu and Malta.
Ryanair chief commercial officer David O’Brien said: “Ryanair is pleased to extend our connecting flights service to our largest Italian base.
“Starting with 25 routes, [but] rising to 300, customers will be able to transfer on to their next flight without having to go landside and have their bags checked through to their final destination.”
He said more routes would be added “in the coming weeks and months” and reported: “We’re continuing our discussions with Aer Lingus, Norwegian and other potential partners with a view to launching connections with them later this year.”