Ryanair announce 11 new Edinburgh routes as services move from Glasgow

Ryanair have announced that they are to add 11 new routes to Edinburgh and will close its one aircraft Glasgow International base from November.
Picture: Ian GeorgesonPicture: Ian Georgeson
Picture: Ian Georgeson

The number of routes operated from Glasgow will be reduced from 23 to three, with five being transferred to Edinburgh.

Chief commercial officer David O’Brien said Edinburgh has a stronger “inbound component” than Glasgow with Ryanair flights:

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“Ryanair regrets these cuts in the weaker Glasgow market where efforts to stimulate low fare demand are severely hampered by the continuing burden of APD.

“As a result, we will transfer our Glasgow International based aircraft to Edinburgh in November where we will offer 11 new low fare routes and deliver over 3.5m passengers per annum at Edinburgh Airport.”

Ryanair opened a new base at Glasgow Airport in autumn 2014, one of several new bases opened across Europe that year.

At the time it said it remained committed to Prestwick Airport, continuing to offer flights from there.

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Describing itself as Europe’s first and largest low fares airline, Ryanair carries more than 130 million customers a year on more than 2,000 daily flights from 87 bases.

A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said: “We are bitterly disappointed at this decision by Ryanair which is not only damaging for Glasgow and wider Scottish connectivity, it will impact approximately 100 jobs locally. This is a result of the airline’s review of its single aircraft bases, however, we have been left in no doubt it is also a consequence of the Scottish Government’s inability to introduce its proposed 50% cut in Air Departure Tax (ADT).

“Despite clear and repeated warnings from both airports and airlines about the potential impact of this policy not being implemented, we are now faced with a stark scenario that includes the loss of 20 services and a significant number of jobs.

“This is the second example in as many months of an airline cutting capacity in Scotland because of the lack of movement on ADT. The reality is this capacity will be reallocated elsewhere in Europe to countries with more favourable aviation taxation policies to Scotland’s detriment. We cannot sit back and risk Scotland’s connectivity being further eroded. It is imperative there is immediate action on ADT.”

Derry, Lisbon, Sofia, Riga and Berlin are the five routes being switched to Edinburgh.

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