Ryanair add 17 routes as Edinburgh Airport becomes 27th base

Ryanair is to open 17 new routes from Edinburgh Airport and will open its 27th European base - and its second Scottish base after Prestwick - at the hub. It will base two aircraft in Edinburgh from September - at a cost of £70m - to handle the majority of the new services. Ryanair claims the expansion will sustain 1200 jobs and generate visitor spend of more than £100m based on a projected 1.2 million passengers a year.

The first new route will open next month - to Alicante (4 times a week) - followed in April by Bremen (2 times a week), Frankfurt (3 times a week), Marseille (2 times a week) and Pisa (3 times a week). In June Ryanair will launch flights to Dusseldorf (2 times a week).

The bulk of the new destinations will start in September when Berlin (4 times a week), Billund (3 times a week), Bournemouth (13 times a week), Bratislava (4 times a week), Krakow (3 times a week), Lodz (2 times a week), Malaga (4 times a week), Palma (3 times a week), Poznan (3 times a week), Stockholm (4 times a week) and Wroclow (2 times a week) are to be launched. The announcement takes to 19 the total number of destinations served by Ryanair at Edinburgh. Currently it operates two routes, to Dublin (3 times a week) and Shannon (4 times a week).