Up to 50,000 Irish people are expected to travel over to England today for the opening of the four-day Cheltenham Festival.
Ryanair has put on up to 20 additional flights to its normal schedule to Birmingham, Bristol and the East Midlands to cater for festival-goers.
Last year, there were 649 helicopter landings at the course during the meeting.
Up to 230,000 people are expected to attend over the four days of the festival, with 70,000 set to attend Gold Cup day.