Ryanair has vowed to challenge “high fare” Scandinavian carriers by opening a second base in Denmark.
The Irish no-frills giant is to base two aircraft at Copenhagen airport to expand its network to 24 routes this winter with the addition of services to Dusseldorf, Faro, Paris and Warsaw.
Ryanair is currently the third largest airline operating from the Danish capital’s airport, carrying 2.3 million passengers a year, and also operates from Billund.
Group chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “This represents a further $200 million investment by Ryanair in the recovery of air traffic and tourism in Copenhagen, which continues to lag behind its pre-Covid volumes.
“Ryanair believes this is because the high airport fees and the high fares being charged by NAS [Norwegian Air] and SAS which hampers recovery of Danish traffic and tourism.
“Ryanair’s new Copenhagen base will build on our existing 20 routes which we operate to/from Copenhagen on aircraft based outside Denmark.”
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