Budget airline Ryanair has urged Sir Keir Starmer’s government to scrap air passenger duty as it announced its winter schedule from Bristol.
The carrier has added five new destinations from Bristol Airport, taking the number of routes it operates from the South West transport hub to 30.
The new locations are Copenhagen in Denmark; Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands; Marrakesh in Morocco; Prague in the Czech Republic; and Tirana in Albania.
Jade Kirwan of Ryanair said: “We are pleased to announce our Winter 2024 schedule for Bristol, which includes five exciting new routes… giving customers in the South West even more choice at the lowest airfares in Europe.”
Ryanair also called on the government to abolish APD, which is charged on each traveller and is based on where their journey ends. The airline said scrapping the tax would allow it to “deliver ambitious growth” for the UK for the rest of the decade.
“While Ryanair continues to invest and grow traffic and tourism across Britain, UK airports and passengers are suffering the highest burden of APD, which puts UK tourism at a major disadvantage against EU competitors,” the airline said.
“Ryanair can grow UK traffic, jobs, and tourism but the new Labour govt must immediately scrap this unfair and unjustified APD tax if they are serious about implementing policies to deliver growth.”
The airline has claimed that if the tax is scrapped on all flights it will respond by creating 1,000 new jobs, add 20 aircraft to UK airports at an investment of £2bn and grow UK traffic 14% to 65 million passengers a year by 2030.
“As an island economy on the periphery of Europe, it is vital that Ryanair continues to grow low-cost air access to/from the UK, particularly for the regions where tourism growth is suffering the most,” the company said.
Ryanair operates more than 640 routes to and from the UK, carrying over 57 million passengers a year on its fleet of 117 UK-based aircraft.
In July, the carrier report a 46% slump in profit before tax to €401m (£338m) for the three months to June 30 compared to the year previously. The company blamed “frugal” passengers on cutting back on flights.