Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, announced it would open its 50th base (and first in Cyprus) at Paphos (Cyprus’s third largest city) in April 2012 with two based aircraft and 14 routes which will initially deliver over 600,000 passengers p.a. and sustain over 600 jobs with over 80 weekly flights as Ryanair invests over $140 million at Paphos Airport.

Ryanair’s Paphos routes will begin when the base opens in April 2012 and will be available for booking on ryanair.com tomorrow.

In Paphos yesterday, Ryanair’s Michael Cawley said: “Ryanair is delighted to announce Paphos as our 50th base with 14 routes beginning in April next which go on sale on www.ryanair.com tomorrow.  Cypriot consumers/visitors can now beat the recession and escape Cyprus Airways high fares by switching to Ryanair’s lowest fares and our no fuel surcharge guarantee to 14 exciting destinations all over Europe including Germany, Italy and Sweden among others.

Ryanair’s 600,000 passengers p.a. will sustain up to 600 jobs in Paphos.”

Alfred Van der Meer, Hermes Airport Group Chief Executive, said: “This is a great vote of confidence in the potential of both the airport and our region from Europe's largest airline. Today's announcement will help create much needed jobs and tourism and shows that Ryanair shares our confidence in the tremendous opportunity for strong market growth at the airport.”

Ryanair’s 2011 traffic grows 5% to 76m. passengers
Ryanair, announced 5% traffic growth for 2011, with over 76m passengers choosing Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares last year, up from 72m in 2010. Ryanair’s 2011 traffic highlights include:
- Traffic grew 5% from 72.7m to over 76.4m passengers.
- A new record of 8.1m passengers in August (up 6% on Aug’10).
- The busiest day was Fri 12th Aug when over 280,000 flew on over 1,600 Ryanair flights.
- The busiest booking day was 28th Mar when over 310,000 bookings were made on ryanair.com.