Ryanair is investing $200 million at London Luton airport with two new based aircraft for its winter 2018 schedule, taking it’s based aircraft at the airport up to six.
The airline also added six new routes to Alicante, Athens, Barcelona, Bologna, Cork and Malaga and more flights on its existing Vilnius route.
“Ryanair is pleased to announce two more aircraft at Luton (six aircraft in total) for our winter 2018/19 schedule,” said Ryanair chief operations officer David O’Brien. “We will deliver six exciting new routes to Spain, Greece, Italy and Ireland and have added more flights to Vilnius, as we increase our schedule to 107 weekly flights, carrying 2.2m annual customers to/from London Luton.”
Ryanair’s winter 2018 London Luton schedule will now deliver a total of 21 routes which will help to deliver 2.2m customers per anum.
Chief executive officer of Luton Airport, Nick Barton said: “Ryanair has been a big part of our success since it first started flying from LLA in 1986, and the decision to expand its presence here is a testament to our transformation into a world class international airport.
“We are currently carrying out the single biggest investment in our 80-year history to meet continued demand from passengers and give them the best travel experience possible. Our continued work with airline partners means that passengers now have more choice of destinations than ever before. We look forward to continuing to work with Ryanair as we grow and transform.”
The airline is also set to introduce a new baggage policy from November with the aim of reducing flight delays.
Ryanair plans to introduce a lower cost €/£8 x10kg check bag service (currently €/£25 x20kg) and reduce the volume of free 2nd gate bags, which it says has been causing flight delays.
Ryanair chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs said: “From November 2018, we are introducing a new lower cost 10kg checked bag and changing our carry-on bag policy to eliminate boarding/flight delays. Priority Boarding customers will continue to enjoy two free carry-on bags. All other (non-priority) customers will be allowed one free (small) carry-on bag, and those who wish to check in a second bigger 10kg bag can do from €/£8 at the time of booking.
“This new policy will speed up the boarding and cut flight delays,” he added. “60% of customers will be unaffected by these changes and we expect that the other 40% will either choose to buy Priority Boarding or a 10kg check bag or will choose to travel with only one (free) small bag as 30% already do so today.”
Written by: Kimberley Young
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