Budget airline Ryanair has announced it will stop flying from Malmö’s Sturup airport and will instead open a base at Copenhagen Airport.
The company says it plans to offer more than a dozen new routes from the Danish capital and will wind down its operation in neighbouring Swedish city Malmö.
Flights in and out of other Swedish destinations including Gothenburg, Stockholm Skavsta and Växjö are expected to continue.
Ryanair’s Copenhagen base will open in March 2015 and will consist of four aircraft servicing new routes to London, Milan and Warsaw with ten additional routes to be announced early next year.
The airline predicts that its Copenhagen presence will bring over one million customers a year to an airport that is already experiencing steady passenger growth.
Globally, Ryanair flies between 180 destinations in 29 different countries.
The company has more than 9,000 employees and takes approximately 81.5 million passengers per year.
“Our three new Copenhagen routes with daily frequencies are ideal for business passengers and families booking their low fare summer holiday getaways, with fares starting from just 149 DKK one-way. Ryanair customers can also enjoy allocated seating, a free second carry-on bag, reduced fees, a new website, a brand new app with mobile boarding passes, and our great new Family Extra and Business Plus services,” the airline’s COO, David O’Brien, said at a Copenhagen press conference.
To begin with, Ryanair will offer 28 weekly flights from its Copenhagen base, eventually increasing to more than 100.
The airline said that its investments in Copenhagen would result in 1,000 local jobs based on calculations from Airports Council International.
