Ryanair eyes second German base
February 15, 2006Ryanair has announced it will open a second base in Germany within 18 months as it bids to boost its coverage of continental Europe, according to The Irish Independent.
The budget airline currently has Frankfurt-Hahn as its sole German hub and flies to six other German destinations.
But Ryanair would like to begin exerting the same kind of dominance in continental Europe as it does in the UK, where it currently has eight bases and flies to and from 26 airports.
Currently the low-cost airline has just seven bases in continental Europe.
Germany appears to be a big target market, as Ryanair intends to open a third base within three years to handle growing demand for cheap flights.
UK travellers are also likely to be offered increased services to Frankfurt-Hahn as Ryanair is sticking by ambitious plans to handle eight million passengers at the airport by 2012.
Ryanair is also priming eastern Europe as a high growth area and plans to announce its first eastern European base, widely tipped to be Wroclaw in Poland, in the spring.
© Adfero Ltd
