Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has launched its Winter 2018 schedule from Bucharest, which includes four new routes from Romania’s capital to Amman (Jordan), Marseille (France), Palermo (Italy) and Paphos (Cyprus).

The new routes will have two flights a week each. The company will also increase the frequency of its flights from Bucharest to Athens, London, Milan and Timisoara.

With these new additions, Ryanair aims to reach 1.85 million passengers per year on the Henri Coanda International Airport, an 18% yearly increase. Last year, Ryanair carried a total of 2.5 million passengers to and from Romanian airports, more than the state airline Tarom. However, only 36% of the passengers were foreigners, whereas in countries such as Hungary and Czech Republic, about 80% of the passengers are foreign, according to Ryanair representatives.

“It’s simpler to sell tickets to Bulgaria than to Romania,” Denis Barabas, Ryanair sales and marketing executive for Central and Eastern Europe, told local Economica.net.

Ryanair decided earlier this year to close its first base in Romania, at the Timisoara airport, due to the poor results.

editor@romania-insider.com