RYANAIR LAUNCHES NEW ROUTE FROM
INVERNESS TO LIVERPOOL
FARES FROM £2.49*

 £2,000,000 SAVINGS SALE ON ALL LIVERPOOL ROUTES TO CELEBRATE

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (5^th April 2006) announced a new daily service from Inverness to Liverpool. The new service will operate daily on a Boeing 737-800 series aircraft (189 seats) and Ryanair expects to carry 100,000 passengers in the first year of operation. 

The new route from Inverness to Liverpool is part of a significant expansion in Merseyside by Ryanair also announced today. In addition to the new service to Inverness, Europe’s largest low fares airline will launch 10 new routes from its Liverpool base to Aberdeen, Alghero and Ancona in Italy, Kaunas in Lithuania, Krakow, Poznan and Wroclaw in Poland, Santander and Santiago in Spain and Tampere in Finland. The new routes will operate from the 3^rd October bringing the total number of destinations served by Ryanair in Liverpool to 31.

In Inverness today, Ryanair’s Head of Sales & Marketing for Europe, Caroline Baldwin said: “This new route to Liverpool represents a significant development for Inverness Airport and will deliver a massive additional 100,000 passengers through the airport. The additional traffic from Liverpool will bring significant tourism and economic benefits with it and will create an additional 100 jobs in the local economy.

“To celebrate the launch of these 11 new routes Ryanair is launching a £2,000,000 seat sale available on all routes to Liverpool, available from today on www.ryanair.com and we advise passengers to book early as demand will be very strong.”

NEW ROUTE

* One-way excluding taxes

The route has qualified for support from the Scottish Executive’s Air Route Development Fund.

Inverness Airport manager James Walton said: “This is excellent news for Inverness with Ryanair starting its first operation at the airport and opening up major new opportunities for air travellers. Liverpool John Lennon Airport offers over 90 scheduled destinations and serves a major UK population centre. This will be good for inbound tourism and local residents alike.

“The support of the Scottish Executive’s Air Route Development Fund has also been vital in securing this new service which will provide an important economic boost for the Highlands,” said Mr Walton.

Inglis Lyon, managing director of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited said: “This is really significant news for our region. The importance of new scheduled air links is reflected in the projected impact this route will have in the region. It should support more than 100 full-time equivalent jobs and generate in excess of £10 million per annum for the Highland economy.

“Inverness now offers an expanding range of flight options with low cost and full service carriers providing more choice to passengers than ever before.

“We are now beginning to unlock the true potential of the airport at Inverness and are delighted to have been able to work with Ryanair and the Executive’s Route Development Fund to see the airline’s first route from the Highlands take off,” said Mr Lyon.

Inverness Airport achieved passenger growth of 14% in 2005 placing it ahead of Scotland’s four largest airports at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Prestwick. Although still ranked fifth in Scotland by total volume Inverness handled 626,284 passengers in the year. Inverness was also ranked the fastest growing Scottish airport in 2004.

The airport is the largest of 10 in the region operated by Scottish Executive owned HIAL. HIAL aims to achieve a target of one million passengers per annum at Inverness in the next five years.

Inverness currently handles more than 330 scheduled flights a week to destinations including London (Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton), Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stornoway, Kirkwall and Sumburgh. New routes to Dublin and Leeds Bradford are due to start later this month.