Ryanair has announced the upcoming launch of a new two-aircraft base in Copenhagen in December 2023. The new base will create up to 100 jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers as part of a US$200m new aircraft investment.
The Copenhagen base will be the second Ryanair base operating in Denmark, joining the airline’s two-aircraft base in Billund, central Denmark.
“Ryanair is pleased to announce this two-aircraft base in Copenhagen from Dec, which will compliment our two-aircraft base in Billund,” said Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair. “This represents a further $200m 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 and SAS, which hampers recovery of Danish traffic and tourism.”
Ryanair expects to carry 184 million passengers in 2023/2024, up by 24% from pre-Covid traffic figures, which saw 149 million passengers. The addition of the new base will offer passengers flying from Copenhagen low fares and more choice for early morning departures and late evening arrivals in Copenhagen.
“Ryanair’s new Copenhagen base will build on our existing 20 routes, which we operate to/from Copenhagen on aircraft based outside Denmark,” added O’Leary. “Today’s announcement means that from Dec, these low fares will now extend to early morning departures and late evening arrivals and will provide much-needed choice and low fare competition to Denmark’s State-aided, high-fare airlines SAS and NAS.”
Image: Ryanair
