Ryanair have this week celebrated carrying 13m customers at Shannon Airport since April 2000, in a year of rapid traffic growth at Shannon and other Irish airports, thanks largely to the decision of Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, to scrap air passenger duty.
Ryanair launched 10 new routes from Shannon as a direct result of the travel tax being scraped and will deliver an additional 300,000 customers at Shannon this year, a rise of 77 per cent to 750,000 p.a. in total, which will support 750 “on-site” jobs.
Ryanair will also deliver over two thirds (68 per cent ) of all traffic growth across the main Irish airports in 2014 with new routes and additional frequencies on existing routes, and revealed that:
— Traffic at Irish airports in 2014 is expected to be 1.8m higher than 2013, with Ryanair accounting for 1.2m (68 per cent ) of this growth.
— Ryanair will carry over 1.7m extra customers through all Irish airports in the first 12 months following the scrapping of the travel tax (1st Apr 14 - 31st Mar 15 ).
— These 1.7m extra Ryanair customers will support over 1,700 new jobs at the main Irish airports.
Outbound consumers and visitors to Shannon already choose Ryanair for the lowest fares, the widest choice of routes and our unbeatable punctuality. Customers are also enjoying the improved experience being delivered by Ryanair’s “Always Getter Better” customer programme.
Speaking in Shannon, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said Ryanair is pleased to welcome our 13 millionth customer at Shannon in the 14 years since we opened in April 2000.
“Traffic at Shannon and the other Irish airports has boomed in 2014 thanks to the fore sighted decision of Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, to scrap APD in April 2014.
“The repeal of this tax has improved Ireland’s competitiveness and attractiveness to visitors from the UK and Continental Europe and Ryanair has responded to Minister Noonan’s initiative by carrying over 1.7m new customers to/from Ireland (with 300,000 of these to/from Shannon ) in the year to March 2015.
”To celebrate carrying our 13 millionth customer at Shannon, we are launching a €13 seat sale to/from Shannon for travel in January and February, which must be booked by today Thursday (Dec 4 ),” he concluded.
