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Ryanair announces 15 new Scottish routes and takes swipe at APD

Ryanair is expanding its network from Scotland next winter with 15 new routes as the boss of the low-fares airline called for Air Passenger Duty to be scrapped.

The Scottish government currently plans to halve the rate of APD.

Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said: “We call on the Scottish government to follow the Irish example and scrap APD entirely to allow Scottish traffic, tourism and jobs to grow and ensure Scottish airports can compete and attract more business.

“The scrapping of APD would enable Ryanair to base more aircraft in Scotland, add even more new routes and create thousands of additional jobs.”

Thirteen of the additional services will run from Edinburgh airport and two from Glasgow.

The new routes from Edinburgh cover Baden, Budapest, Carcassonne, Eindhoven, Hamburg, Katowice, Nantes, Prague, Szczecin, Toulouse, Venice, Valencia and Wroclaw to give 38 in total.

Glasgow will gain new routes to Krakow and Madrid to bring the total up to 17.

The expansion represents 20% growth over this winter from four airports in Scotland, including Aberdeen and Prestwick.

Nine routes will operate from Prestwick and two from Aberdeen.

O’Leary also reported record bookings for its Scottish summer schedule.

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