Ryanair Selects Wroclaw as First Polish Base

Irish budget carrier Ryanair is to open a base in the Polish city of Wroclaw in spring 2012, its first in Poland and 46th across Europe. The airline will initially station a single Boeing 737-800 at Wroclaw’s Copernicus Airport from March at which time it will boost its network by more than a third with the addition of six new routes.

The low-cost carrier is already the largest carrier at the facility offering links to 15 destinations in Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain and the UK. It currently offers more than 40 flights per week accounting for a 39.8 per cent share of the available weekly seats.

The new additions to its network next year comprise Bournemouth, Chania, Malmo, Malta, Paris Beauvais and Venice Treviso. All but one of these destinations are new for Wroclaw, with Wizz Air already providing a three times weekly link to Paris Beauvais.

In addition to this growth, Ryanair revealed this week that it is considering establishing operations from the new Warsaw Modlin Airport which is due to open next summer. The former military airfield is currently being converted into a civilian facility for use mainly by low-cost carriers.

A spokesman for the airport confirmed to The HUB that the irish carrier “is one is one of a number of carriers that Warsaw Modlin is talking to about serving the airport when it opens in Summer 2012”.