Ryanair has escalated its low fares battle against budget rival Easyjet by establishing a base at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
The Irish no-frills carrier is to add nine routes from next spring to the four destinations already served – matching Easyjet’s 13 routes from Liverpool.
Liverpool will be the airline’s 12th European base in an investment claimed to be worth $240 million. Ryanair expects to carry 1.4 million passengers to and from Liverpool in the next 12 months, creating and sustaining more than 1,000 jobs.
The Liverpool expansion by Ryanair was touted by outspoken chief executive Michael O’Leary as a direct challenge to Easyjet with the claim that consumers will save over 30 million euros on fares charged by its budget competitor in the next year.
Fares on the new routes range from £2.99 to Cork to £17.99 to Murcia, excluding taxes.
Making the announcement less than 24 hours before Easyjet announced its annual financial results today, Mr O’Leary said: “Out message to Easyjet is simple – you can’t match Ryanair’s low fares and you can’t match Ryanair’s punctuality and customer service either.”
He claimed Ryanair’s fares would be “almost half the price” of Easyjet across the 13 routes to be served by next year.
Ryanair is to base four Boeing 737-800s in Liverpool adding routes to Barcelona (Reus), Limoges, Pisa, Cork, Murcia, Shannon, Granada, Nimes and Venice. The carrier already serves Barcelona (Girona), Dublin, Milan and Rome from the airport.
The new services are launched from March 31 next year with Reus and Murcia, with the remainder due to start by May 3.
Report by Phil Davies
