European budget carrier Ryanair has revealed plans to expand its network from Cork International Airport this winter by basing a second Boeing 737-800 at the Irish facility. The airline is to expand its winter network to ten destinations with new routes to Vilnius, Lithuania and the Polish cities of Gdansk, Krakow, Warsaw and Wroclaw commencing in November.
Ryanair will offer twice weekly services to both Gdansk and Vilnius and three times weekly flights to Krakow, Warsaw and Wroclaw which alongside its present routes (including seasonal summer services) to Alicante, Arrecife, Bergamo, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Faro, Fuerteventura, Girona, La Rochelle, Las Palmas, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Malaga, Palma, Pisa, Reus and Tenerife, will increase the airline’s traffic at Cork to over 850,000 passengers per annum. The airline has had a presence in the Irish city since the late 1980s when it offered regular flights to London Luton using BAC One-Elevens ahead of its rebranding as a low-cost carrier.
The low-cost carrier will face direct competition from Wizz Air on the routes to Gdansk, Vilnius and Wroclaw but claims that its “lower fares” will help it compete and further stimulate the market. Ryanair already some offers links to Poland and Lithuania from the Republic of Ireland. It currently has services to Gdansk, Krakow, Vilnius and Wroclaw from Dublin and to Wroclaw from Shannon. Aer Lingus also serves Krakow, Vilnius and Warsaw from Dublin.
In 2011 an estimated 844,000 O&D passengers flew between the Republic of Ireland and Poland, down 5.0 per cent on the previous year. The O&D demand between the Republic of Ireland and Lithuania was a lot lower in 2011 at approximately 168,000 passengers but is a market that has grown 12.8 per cent in the same analysis period.
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