Liverpool Leads Ryanair’s UK Winter Seat Growth

LIVERPOOL, England—Ryanair is adding more winter seats at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL) than at any other UK airport in its network, OAG Schedules Analyser data shows, as it keeps a sixth aircraft based there through the quieter season.

Ryanair and Ryanair UK plan about 503,000 departure seats from Liverpool in winter 2026-27, up nearly 58,000, or 12.9%, from the previous winter, according to OAG figures. That is the largest absolute increase among UK airports. Ryanair’s total UK departing capacity is up just 0.6%, to 12.3 million seats.

The growth follows Ryanair’s decision to keep a sixth Boeing 737 at Liverpool through the winter. The aircraft joined the base for summer 2026, but the Irish ULCC would ordinarily reduce the number based at the airport during the quieter season, Chief Marketing Officer Dara Brady said at a Sept. 24 press conference in Liverpool.

“Given the very strong performance here in Liverpool, we’re keeping the sixth aircraft here in the winter,” Brady said. He described it as the airline’s largest winter schedule from the airport.

Ryanair plans 27 routes from LPL this winter, including six airport pairs it did not operate last winter: Milan Bergamo, Copenhagen, Gdansk, Porto, Tirana and Warsaw. Porto, Tirana and Warsaw were introduced for the summer and will continue into winter; the other three are additions to the winter program. Ryanair is also increasing frequencies to Cork, Kaunas and Krakow.

OAG data shows Ryanair served Warsaw Modlin last winter and plans to serve Warsaw Chopin this winter. Warsaw Chopin is therefore a new airport pair in the schedule—although the Polish capital is not a new market for LPL.

Liverpool’s increase comes despite Ryanair’s decision to reduce its group passenger target for the fiscal year ending March 2027 from 216 million to 214 million. CEO Michael O’Leary told a press conference in London on Sept. 23 that the airline was removing flights largely from weaker periods to limit its exposure to fuel bought at current prices.

LPL CEO John Irving said that retaining the sixth aircraft would help narrow the usual gap between summer and winter flying. “Quite often winter drops down considerably, but here we’re sort of softening that peak,” Irving told Aviation Week in an interview.

Irving said LPL was on course for another passenger record in 2026 after handling 5.6 million travelers last year. Traffic was running a couple of percentage points ahead, he said, and could reach about 5.8 million with a favorable finish to the year. In addition to Ryanair’s sixth aircraft, EasyJet added a ninth based aircraft in August.

The airport is seeking both additional routes and more flights on existing services. “We want to be more prominent in Italy and in Germany,” Irving said. Some destinations now served two or three times a week could support six or seven weekly flights, he added.

Restoring a connection to a major airline hub remains another priority. Lufthansa previously linked Liverpool with Frankfurt, but the service ended in February 2024.