Ryanair has announced ten new 2021 routes to both Liverpool and Manchester airports after the firm announced it anticipates a "strong recovery" for UK air traffic.
The Irish airline announced the news on Wednesday, with the new routes from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) including Rome, Milan Bergamo and Kos; while the Manchester Airport destinations include Bucharest, Verona and Zagreb.
Speaking to BusinessLive, director of commercial, Jason McGuinness, said the firm will "deliver recovery and growth" to the two cities despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.
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He added that the airline is "restoring connectivity for Liverpool and Manchester - and recovering UK traffic" as vaccination rollouts continue across Europe.
He said: "Following the successful vaccination programmes, UK air traffic led by Ryanair, is set to recover strongly in Summer 2021 and we are pleased to announce our recovery schedule for Manchester, which will deliver 5.1m passengers p.a. across 67 routes including new summer and winter routes to exciting destinations Santorini, Paphos, Zagreb and Verona.
"English families/visitors can now book a well-earned summer getaway safe in the knowledge that if their plans change, they can move their travel dates with a zero-change fee up until the end of December 2021."
Manchester's new summer routes will see two weekly flights to Santorini in Greece, Knock in Ireland and Verona in Italy - plus three to Bucharest in Romania.
Its winter 2021 schedule will see twice weekly flights to Kaunas, Paphos in Cyprus, Poznan in Poland, Suceava in Romania, Zagreb in Croatia - and one weekly flight to Salzburg in Austria.
For Liverpool, the new summer schedule will see four weekly flights to Rome; plus two to Košice in Slovakia, Kaunas in Lithuania, and Zadar in Croatia. There will also be a new weekly flight to Greek island Kos.
The new winter routes for JLA will see twice weekly flights to Stockholm Arlanda in Sweden, Milan Bergamo in Italy, Paris Beauvais, Sibiu in Romania, and Tallin in Estonia.
The airline expects to deliver 1.9m passengers per year across 32 routes in total from the city.
Mr McGuinness said the two North West airports are crucial to the airline's future - and that more similar announcements can be expected in the coming years.
He added that to celebrate the launch, Ryanair is releasing seats for sale from £19.99 until the end of October. That's as well as a 'zero' change fee should plans need to be altered.
