Ryanair will invest $800 million in its largest ever flight schedule expansion from Krakow Airport for summer 2022.  

The airline said in a statement that it will offer 73 routes from the airport this summer. This will include “10 novelties” with new destinations such as Agadir (Morocco), Ancona (Italy) and Berlin (Germany). 

‘The Dublin-based carrier will also base its Boeing capacity in Krakow, including its fleet of 737 MAXs. 

“The Ryanair Group will base 8 planes at the airport in Krakow, of which 6 are the most environmentally efficient B738-8200 ‘Gamechanger’,” said the airline. 

“This is an investment of USD 800 million, which allows for the maintenance of 420 direct jobs for pilots, deck crew members and ground handling, as well as 3,450 indirect jobs in Krakow,” Ryanair added. 

Ryanair will perform more than 260 flights a week from Krakow in the Summer 2022 season, 40 more than in the pre-pandemic summer 2019 season.  

Michał Kaczmarzyk, CEO of Buzz, an airline based in Poland Warsaw, and a subsidiary of the Ryanair Group, commented on the news of Ryanair’s expansion. “As the No. 1 airline in Poland and Europe, we are happy to announce the largest flight schedule from Krakow in history. In the Summer 2022 season, we will perform over 260 flights a week on 73 routes, including as many as 10 new ones, including to Agadir, Ancona, and Berlin.” 

Ryanair will operate 10 new routes to Agadir, Ancona, Berlin, Budapest, Lille, Newcastle, Riga, Stockholm, Turin and Olsztyn-Mazury. 

The airline will operate its new summer schedule until October 2022, Kaczmarzyk added. 

Looking ahead to the 2022 summer season, Radoslaw Wloszek, President of Kraków Airport commented on the travel demand expected during summer. 

“Despite the cold outside, the airline industry is already in the SUMMER 2022 season. We are very happy that Kraków Airport, together with our base carrier, has prepared such an interesting network of connections. After the difficult time of the pandemic, passengers are more likely to travel with Ryanair #PROSTOzKRAKOWA on holidays to sunny, warm cities in Europe,” said Wloszek. 

Ryanair will operate a fleet of 505 aircraft across all its networks during summer 2022, according to the airline’s website. This includes 409 Boeing 737-Next Gens and 29 Airbus A320s. The airline also has 210 Boeing 737 ‘Gamechangers’ on order.