Ryanair Creates 300 Jobs on Nine New Routes

Ryanair plans to open nine new routes and create 300 jobs in Ireland as the budget airline looks to expand.

The company said it will also increase frequencies on eight existing routes, which will deliver an additional 700,000 passengers per year at Dublin Airport.

Ryanair claimed the new capacity is the final part of the one million passenger growth that the employer planned to deliver at the main Irish airports as a direct result of the Irish government's decision to scrap the €3 (£2.5, $4) travel tax from April 2014.

"Ryanair is pleased to deliver nine new Europe routes to/from Dublin and more than one million new passengers for Ireland (which will create over 1,000 new jobs at the Irish airports) in direct response to the government's welcome initiative to scrap the €3 air travel tax from April 2014," said Michael O'Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair.

"A critical component of this growth will be 100 extra weekly flights into Dublin from Britain, which will reverse the recent tourism declines in UK visitors coming to Ireland."

The company also announced that it will create more than 300 new jobs in Ireland in 2014, for pilots, cabin crew, customer service specialists and software developers as the airline rolls out an extensive programme of customer service and website improvements.

The 300 new jobs will be in addition to the 1,000 indirect jobs that will be created at Dublin, Knock and Shannon airports, according to the airline.

Kevin Toland, head of the Dublin Airport Authority, added: "DAA is pleased by Ryanair's decision to accelerate its growth at Dublin Airport in response to the government's decision on the air travel tax and the attractive suite of incentives we offer to airlines launching new services or increasing passenger numbers."