Ryanair will invest $140m in these two new Boeing 737-800 aircraft which will deliver 1m extra passengers p.a. Europe's largest low-fares airline says that this will sustain an additional 1,000 new jobs in North Dublin. It will bring Ryanair’s total number of routes served year round from Dublin to 81 – almost double the number served by Aer Lingus – and will next year see Ryanair deliver 10m passengers p.a. to/from Dublin Airport, which is over 40% of Dublin’s total traffic. These new aircraft and routes have been facilitated by the recent opening of Check-in Area 14, and the opening of Pier D in October. These facilities will provide the additional ramp capacity needed to accommodate these new aircraft, new routes and new visitors to Dublin.

Announcing this further growth at Dublin Airport, Ryanair’s Deputy CEO, Michael Cawley said: "The events of this past week confirm that Aer Lingus cannot be trusted or relied upon to secure access to/from the Republic of Ireland on key routes to the UK and Europe. By launching these 6 new routes, 3 of which (Budapest, Nice and Prague) are already served by Aer Lingus, and 1 of which (Basel) competes with Aer Lingus’s high fare route to Zurich, means that long-term access between Dublin and these cities has been secured, even if Aer Lingus decides to transfer more aircraft and more services North of the border to Belfast.

Ryanair’s new routes will end Aer Lingus’s high fare monopoly on these routes and means that Irish passengers and visitors will no longer have to suffer €200 and €300 air fares from Dublin to Basel, Budapest, Nice and Prague. Our new routes to Katowice and Szczecin will provide new gateways and links between Ireland and Poland which have enjoyed such enormous customer support in recent years.

"These new aircraft will enable Ryanair this Winter to significantly increase frequencies and services on 12 of Ryanair’s existing routes at Dublin. There will now be extra daily flights from Dublin to Birmingham (4 daily), Edinburgh (4 daily) and Manchester (5 daily) for time sensitive business passengers who are presently underserved by Aer Lingus.

Bratislava, Kaunas, Krakow and Riga frequencies are increased to daily flights, as well as extra weekly flights to Bournemouth, Gkansk, Rzeszow, Tenerife and Wroclaw. Ryanair’s combination of guaranteed lowest fares, best on-time performance, fewest lost bags, fewest cancelled flights continues to attract record passenger numbers and growth.

"With these new routes and additional flights, Ryanair expects to carry a record 10m passengers through Dublin Airport in 2008. The message today is clear, the people of Ireland can no longer trust Aer Lingus to provide secure access to/from this country. Thankfully Ryanair can be relied on, not just to provide access, but to do so on brand new aircraft, with the lowest fares, the best passenger service, and a guarantee of no fuel surcharge."