Ryanair, Europe’s biggest airline (183.5m customers) today (25^th Oct) reported that it has received record advance bookings on its 17 new routes to/from Tirana, which start next week on Tues 31^st Oct. Ryanair’s 17 new routes to/from Albania will connect the country to major inbound visitor markets including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK, where Ryanair believes substantial traffic and tourism growth will be stimulated thanks to Ryanair’s unbeatable low air fares, which finally offer low fare competition and choice to the high fare airlines, who presently dominate in Albania. Ryanair’s 17 low fare routes to/from Tirana will drive connectivity, year-round traffic and tourism growth, as well as supporting hundreds of new jobs at the airport while providing Albanian citizens/visitors with lower fares and more choice all year round.

Ryanair’s new Albanian flights will deliver;

-       17 new routes including Brussels, Dusseldorf, London, Milan, Paris and Rome

-       Fares that start from just €15 one way

-       Over 1.6m passengers p.a. in year 1

-       Sustaining over 1,000 local jobs in Albania 

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary visited Tirana today with a team of sales and Ops people to promote the start of Ryanair’s flights to/from Tirana on Tues 31st Oct next. To celebrate these record advance bookings, Ryanair has launched a 3 day seat sale across all 17 new routes to/from Tirana, with 50,000 seats on sale from €14.99, which are available from travel from Nov 2023 until March 2024 (although these seats must be booked by 28th Oct directly on the Ryanair.com website).

In Tirana, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Next week on Tues 31^st Oct, the Ryanair low fare revolution comes to Albania. We will start 17 new routes to/from Tirana, and already more than 70% of these seats have been sold for the first month of operations. The scale of Ryanair’s winter operation in Tirana with 17 routes, and over 200 weekly frequencies show the extraordinary demand there is for really low fare inbound travel to Albania and among Albanian citizens too. As Europe’s No.1 airline, Ryanair believes it can deliver dramatic and sustainable traffic and tourism growth, not just this winter, but for many years to come in Albania.

For too long, new route and traffic growth in Albania has been held back by the high fare incumbent airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France, BA and Wizz. From next Tues 31^st Oct, this era of high fares ends. Ryanair’s low fares are coming to Tirana. Thousands of visitors are coming to Tirana, and we look forward to carrying many thousands of Albanian citizens to/from Europe to visit their friends and relatives.

Ryanair is the only major airline in Europe that has recovered to 130% of its pre-Covid traffic. This winter we hope to receive 57 new aircraft from Boeing as part of our post-Covid growth and recovery plan. We are proud to open 17 new routes to/from Tirana next week, and we are thrilled at the strength of forward bookings, and the demand that exists in Albania and across Europe for Ryanair’s low fare flights to/from Tirana. Ryanair plans to grow its fleet to 800 aircraft, and its traffic to 300m passengers p.a. over the next decade, and we believe that Albania will be a key growth market for Ryanair’s low fares.”