FRANKFURT, April 10 (Reuters) - Low cost carrier Ryanair plans to expand at Cologne airport in Germany, joiningrivals in boosting services in Europe's largest economy andproviding more competition for Lufthansa on its hometerritory.
Ryanair will base one aircraft and open up five new routesfrom Cologne, in Germany's most populated federal state of NorthRhine-Westphalia, in October, the budget carrier said onThursday.
The airline therefore joins rivals such as Easyjet and Spain's Vueling, all of which are hoping to takeadvantage of Germany's strong economy and its citizens' love offoreign holidays.
Low cost carriers have been slow to break into Germany, inthe same way as they have taken over in other markets likeBritain, France and Spain.
But analysts say low-cost carriers have spotted an opening,especially as Air Berlin, Germany's second largestairline, struggles with its finances.
"Germany is the growth engine of Europe. As an Europeanairline, it would be wrong to leave out Germany," Vueling Germanmanager Ulla Siebken told journalists in Frankfurt last month.
Except for routes that feed into its hubs in Frankfurt andMunich, full-service carrier Lufthansa has now handed over itsEuropean short-haul operations to Germanwings, its low-costunit.
Ryanair said it is investing over $90 million in Cologne.The new routes are to Dublin, London Stansted, Madrid, Riga &Rome Ciampino, reflecting Ryanair's move into larger airports,rather than smaller regional airports.
Vueling plans to increase revenue by 25 percent in Germanythis year as it offers 33 percent more capacity, in terms of theseat kilometres it offers.
Easyjet is also expanding, putting in extra planes to Berlinand launching routes to Hamburg.
"Germany for us is good," Easyjet CEO Carolyn McCall toldReuters last month. "We're doing well in Berlin... and we justlaunched in Hamburg. That will be good for us. All the signalsare very good."
(Reporting by Victoria Bryan, Peter Maushagen and CyrilAltmeyer; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
easyJet (EZJ)