Ryanair will operate 18 routes from Shannon Airport over the winter, including introducing services to both Faro and Liverpool for the first time, the airline has announced.
It is also increasing its frequency on six other services from four flights a week to six on winter destination routes to Spain and Poland with more services to Lanzarote, Alicante, Malaga, Tenerife, Krakow and Wroclaw.
The company is basing a third 197-seater aircraft at Shannon to service the increased frequency with an additional 30 Ryanair staff including cabin crew and pilots based at the airport.
Shannon is one of 92 airports from which Ryanair flies amid increasing competition from airports throughout Europe for carriers as the aviation industry recovers and builds services post-pandemic.
Speaking at Shannon, Ryanair's Director of Digital and Marketing Dara Brady said: "Notwithstanding this recovery, this summer was one of the most difficult for airline passengers impacted as a result of industrial action by air traffic controllers, particularly in France."
He said Ryanair is currently petitioning the European Union on the matter to take stronger action on this issue and has 2 million signatures on this to date from customers.
Shannon CEO Mary Considine said the increased Ryanair winter services from Shannon was "good news" as the company is a really important partner, in particular for their recovery post-pandemic, which saw a 79% drop in passenger numbers at the airport in 2020 and 2021.
A recent survey examining the recovery of airports in Ireland post-pandemic showed that Shannon made the best recovery recording a 14% increase on 2019 passenger numbers for the first nine months of this year.
The analysis was carried out by the global aviation publication Air Service One.
The data for the report was collated using Cirium, a programme that used airline fleet data, aircraft values, travel analytics, flight information and airline schedules.
