Ryanair to pursue expansion in Cyprus

Ryanair will press ahead with plans to expand in Cyprus even if its bid to take over the country's ailing national airline does not succeed, it emerged yesterday.

The Irish airline was one of up to 15 that recently submitted proposals to the Cypriot government to take Cyprus Airways, which needed a €73 million state bail out after losing €56 million in 2012.

Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said that the Irish company has pledged it will expand the airline from five craft and 700,000 passengers a-year to 20 planes and three million passengers over five years if it succeeds.

However, he added that the Cypriots are more likely to opt for a rival bid from Greece's Aegean Air "for political and cultural reasons".

Mr O'Leary revealed that Ryanair has applied to the country's authorities for its own Air Operator's Certificate (AOC), a licence allowing it to establish its own airline on the island that could open up new markets in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Russia.

As Cyprus is in the EU, Ryanair can fly to and from there to any other member state under its Irish AOC, but it cannot fly from there to countries such as Russia or Israel, where it is keen to expand.

Ryanair already has a base at Paphos in Cyprus and Mr O'Leary signalled that it would expand its presence considerably there if its AOC application were to succeed. He suggested that it could fly under the "Ryanair Cyprus" banner.

He was speaking after landing in Dublin Airport in the first of the new 180 Boeing 737-800 craft that the airline is purchasing from the US aerospace manufacturer over the next five years.

Earlier this week, Ryanair signed a new deal with Boeing for up to 200 737 Max 200 craft, worth €17 billion, which it will buy between 2019 and 2023. That agreement will leave the Irish airline with a fleet of 520 planes by 2024.

It will take delivery of 15 of the 737-800 craft this winter.