Ryanair To Open Two More Spanish Bases By 2010

Cheap flights specialist Ryanair is to open two more Spanish bases by 2010, effectively doubling profits in Spain as well as the number of passengers flying to and from Spanish airports by 2012. Ryanair's director of marketing and sales in Spain, Maribel Rodriguez said: "We now have four bases and there is space for one or two more...in the next three or four years…There's still a lot of space to grow."

In 2008, Ryanair hopes that it is able to fly 11 million passengers to and from Spanish airports on domestic and European flights, compared to fewer than 5 million in 2004.

Ryanair flights will operate from six new routes from Madrid in October, travelling to Santander and Girona in northern Spain, Alguero and Cagliari in Italy, as well as Frankfurt in Germany and Liverpool in the UK. Ryanair currently flies some 17 routes from Madrid's Barajas airport, which had previously been dominated by the national airline Iberia. However, as Madrid has doubled its number of runways to four in the last two years, Barajas airport has found itself more appealing to the growing number of low-cost carriers. Terminal capacity has also been increased by two thirds to 70 million people a year.

In addition to Madrid and Girona, Ryanair has also said new hubs were to open in Valencia and Alicante on Spain's east coast.