3rd Mar 2016 12:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Thursday called on Northern Ireland to vote 'yes' to stay in the European Union when the referendum is held on June 23, as it launched its Belfast winter 2016 schedule.
The Dublin-based low-cost airline said it has added seven new routes from Belfast to Alicante, Berlin, Krakow, Lanzarote, Malaga, Milan and Tenerife, as well as five extra daily flights to London Gatwick in its winter 2016 schedule.
This will deliver over 1 million customers a year and support over 750 on-site jobs, Ryanair said.
"This large inward investment (over USD300 million) and new job creation is the latest example of how Northern Ireland benefits from the UK's membership of the European Union. Low fare air travel is one of the EU's great success stories," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement.
"We are calling on everyone in Northern Ireland to vote 'Yes' to Europe in the Brexit referendum in June, because staying in Europe will mean stronger economic growth, more tourism and more jobs for young people," he added.
Earlier Thursday, Ryanair reported year-on-year growth in both customer traffic and load factor in February. Customer traffic grew by 28% to 7.4 million from 5.8 million, while load factor increased by four percentage points to 93% from 89%.
Shares in Ryanair were trading down 0.5% at EUR14.07 on Thursday afternoon.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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