Ryanair to open Bratislava base in March, investing €160m

Ryanair will open a base at Bratislava Airport in March from which it will operate 16 routes, including daily flights between the Slovak capital and Dublin.

The base will be its first in Slovakia and its 71st overall. The Irish company calculates that its investment there will be $200 million (€160 million).

Ryanair will base two aircraft at Bratislava and will have more than 60 flights a week from there, covering 16 routes next summer. It is adding a flight between the Slovak city and Madrid.

It predicts that the base will serve almost one million passengers a year, a number that Ryanair says independent figures show will support 1,000 jobs at the airport.

Chief executive, Michael O’Leary, welcomed the news today.