Ryanair expansion cheers airport

Yesterday the Irish carrier announced it would operate two aircraft on 13 routes, including new routes to and from Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Gdansk in Poland and Fuerteventura, in an expansion that should see Ryanair's traffic at Leeds-Bradford grow to one million passengers a year.

Ryanair operated just three routes to and from Leeds-Bradford last winter.

Yesterday the airport's chief executive John Parkin said: "Leeds-Bradford is bucking the trend in the UK with Ryanair growth which will see more Ryanair passengers, flight and routes this winter."

He said the airport was one of the few in the UK growing during the recession. Up to March this year 2.5 million passengers used the airport and the figures are predicted to increase to 3.3 million by March next year.

Mr Parkin said Jet2.com remained the airport's biggest airline but said the airport aims to continue growing and offering more choice. Work is due to begin on a 28m expansion and improvement of its outdated terminal next spring.

In a separate development yesterday European Union judges backed the European Commission's refusal to allow Ryanair to buy the entire Aer Lingus share capital.

The ban on the low-cost airline's takeover bid is "valid," the European Court of Justice declared, dismissing Ryanair's legal challenge.

The same judges also rejected a separate action by Aer Lingus, which opposed the Commission's refusal to go one step further and force Ryanair to give up its existing stake in the carrier.

The Commission found itself fending off actions by both airlines in a tussle which started when Ryanair bought a 19.16 per cent share in Aer Lingus after it was privatised in 2006.

Ryanair's 13 winter routes from Leeds-Bradford will connect to Alicante, Knock, Barcelona, Krakow, Carcassonne in France; Fuerteventura, Dusseldorf, Malaga, Dublin, Malta, Faro, Venice and Gdansk.

To celebrate its expansion Ryanair announced it has released 500,000 9 seats for travel in September and October which can be booked on its website before midnight tomorrow.

Mr Parkin says Leeds-Bradford is attractive to airlines because many people do not use the airport, opting to travel to Manchester and airlines are keen to target these passengers.

Ryanair's deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said: "Ryanair will now deliver one million passengers per annum and sustain 1,000 local jobs at Leeds-Bradford Airport.

"Our new Barcelona route will replace our Girona route to provide easier access to great value city breaks this winter."

Last week it was announced that Leeds-Bradford and Edinburgh airport, were the only airports to avoid Ryanair's cut in capacity, which will see the airline shed space for two million passengers over the winter.

At the time the airline said Leeds Bradford avoided the cull by cutting its charges in return for guaranteed passenger numbers.

Last year the airport won planning permission from Leeds City Council to improve and expand its terminal.

The proposals had provoked controversy because of the impact on the surrounding roads from dramatically increasing passenger numbers, but airport bosses agreed to contribute cash to measures including bus services to reduce the impact.