Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair plans to double the number of passengers it carries in the Baltic region over the next five years, seeking to capitalise on a planned reduction in operations by Latvia’s national airline airBaltic.
Ryanair said it aimed to offer 11 million seats annually in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia until 2031 and increase its fleet based in the region to 16 aircraft from seven, Reuters reported.
The expansion comes as airBaltic restructures its operations. The Latvian airline said in August that it planned to reduce its fleet from 54 aircraft to 36 until the end of this year, with a target of about 40 aircraft until 2031. Its previous plans called for a fleet of 100 aircraft.
“This proposal is even more important following airBaltic’s announcement that it will shrink its fleet by one-third,” Ryanair Chief Commercial Officer Jason McGuinness is quoted by Reuters.
Meanwhile, airBaltic said competition was beneficial to airlines and ultimately to passengers, but suggested that Ryanair’s planned expansion should be measured against its actual services.
“Connectivity is measured by what you deliver, not by what you promise,” airBaltic said in a statement to Reuters.
Ryanair’s planned Baltic expansion is part of a broader strategy to increase its annual passenger traffic to 300 million until 2034, from 208 million in the financial year that ended in March.
However, the airline said it would cut its winter flight capacity in Lithuania and Estonia by 25% because of higher airport charges. It plans to move some of those flights to what it described as more competitive markets, including Slovakia, Poland, Italy and Sweden. (LRT)