Ryanair first introduced flights into Prague in November 2007 and currently offers at least daily flights from Brussels Charleroi, Dublin and London Stansted. The launch of the base will support the introduction of new daily flights to Bergamo and Rome in Italy and will boost annual capacity by around 100,000 to 625,000 seats.
Ryanair has more than quadrupled its capacity offering from Central and Eastern Europe over the past ten years with an average annual rise of 38.9 per cent between 2006 and 2015, according to schedule data from OAG. This has been to combat the emergence of Wizz Air, which over the same period has established itself as the largest carrier in these emerging markets.
Although low-cost carrier Wizz Air has a major base in Budapest it believes there is sufficient demand to offer schedules from Debrecen, despite being just two hours away from the capital city by road.
Košice International Airport is among the fastest growing airports in Europe. It achieved a 50 per cent increase in passenger traffic in 2014 compared to the previous year, also recording its strongest charter season in its history, and a 13 per cent increase in aircraft movements for the year.
According to Ryanair, the first aircraft is due for delivery in March 2015 and will be used to introduce routes to London, Milan and Warsaw, with three more units due to arrive later in 2015. These will be used for an additional ten more new routes which will be announced in the New Year.
