Ryanair to launch new routes from Bratislava

Air passengers will be able to fly from Bratislava Airport to four new destinations, with low-cost airline Ryanair announcing the launch of new connections in its winter flight schedule on Wednesday.

"We're introducing a new winter schedule of flights from Bratislava Airport. It includes a route to Eilat-Ovda in Israel and three new links to Brussels, Edinburgh and Manchester," expressed Ryanair business director David O'Brien at a press conference in Bratislava on Wednesday.

Ryanair will thus operate a total of 13 connections from Bratislava. O'Brien said that it should accommodate around 1.2 million passengers to and from Bratislava annually and create 900 new jobs around European airports, including the one in Bratislava.

The new link to Israel will be launched on Oct. 30, with flights twice a week - every Thursday and Sunday. Ryanair will fly to Brussels six times a week, to Manchester three times a week, and to Edinburgh twice a week.

According to O'Brien, the launch of the new route to Brussels will be helpful in terms of Slovakia's Presidency of the EU that is set to take place in the second half of 2016. Bratislava Airport general director Ivan Trhlik expects the number of passengers using the airport to double this year to a total of 1.8 million. Endit