(Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Wednesday hailed record advance bookings on 17 new routes to and from Tirana, Albania, starting from Tuesday next week.
The Dublin-based budget airline said the 17 new routes will connect Albania to major inbound visitor markets, such as Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK.
Ryanair said it believes "substantial" traffic and tourism growth will be stimulated by its "unbeatable low air fares, which finally offer low fare competition and choice to the high fare airlines, who presently dominate in Albania".
Fares start from EUR15 one way, Ryanair said, forecasting 1.6 million annual passengers in the first year of the new flights.
"The scale of Ryanair's winter operation in Tirana with 17 routes, and over 200 weekly frequencies show the extraordinary demand there is for really low fare inbound travel to Albania and among Albanian citizens too," said Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary.
He added: "Ryanair is the only major airline in Europe that has recovered to 130% of its pre-Covid traffic. This winter we hope to receive 57 new aircraft from Boeing [Co] as part of our post-Covid growth and recovery plan...Ryanair plans to grow its fleet to 800 aircraft, and its traffic to 300m passengers [per annum] over the next decade, and we believe that Albania will be a key growth market for Ryanair's low fares."
Shares in Ryanair were down 2.1% to EUR14.06 each in Dublin midday Thursday.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
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