ITALIAN Ambassador to Slovakia Antonio Provenzano officially opened Irish airline Ryanair's new route between Bratislava and Milan (Bergamo), the TASR news wire reported.
Ryanair plans to carry around 100,000 passengers on this route in its first year.
In the next three weeks, the company will begin flights from Bratislava to Frankfurt, and from Bratislava to London. "The main aim is to transport 400,000 passengers from Bratislava to these other European destinations in 2006," Ryanair business manager for Central Europe Tomasz Kulakowski told journalists at a news conference in Bratislava on Tuesday.
According to Kulakowski, Bratislava is an important hub for European air transport, and Ryanair is thinking of establishing a base in Slovakia. "However, the company is yet to decide if and when," Kulakowski added.
Ryanair is Europe's largest budget airline. The company has 15 European bases, and 266 routes. By the end of 2006, Ryanair will manage a fleet of 92 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with company orders for a further 127 brand new aircraft due to be delivered over the next seven years.
Ryanair currently employs 2,900 staff. The company plans to transport a total of 35 million passengers on all its routes next year.
Compiled by Magdalena MacLeod from press reports
The
Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
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