Ryanair is to capitalise on the scrapping of Ireland’s €3 travel tax with plans to fly at least 1 million more passengers to and from the country next year.
The budget carrier is meeting airports – Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry – today and tomorrow to finalise the growth plans which it claims will lead to the creation of 1,000 new jobs.
The abolition of the tax from next April makes Ireland a more competitive and attractive destination for inbound visitors, particularly those on short flights from the UK and continental Europe, the airline said.
Ryanair expects the traffic growth will come from new routes and additional frequencies on existing services.
Deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said: “Ryanair warmly welcomes the government’s decision to repeal the €3 travel tax.
“This travel tax (originally €10) in 2009 caused Irish air travel and tourism to suffer precipitous losses in recent years.
“The repeal of the air travel tax helps restore Ireland’s competitiveness and attractiveness to overseas visitors from the UK and continental Europe in particular.”
He added: “Subject to final negotiation on new routes and additional frequencies on existing routes with the individual airports, we hope to be in a position to announce details of new route and traffic growth plans at the Irish airports over the coming weeks.”