Ryanair today announced plans to create over 1,000 new jobs across Europe this year and an expansion of its fleet from 270 to 305 aircraft.
None of the jobs will be based in Ireland.
In a statement this afternoon, the company said it intended to continue to reduce flights, traffic and job numbers in Ireland because of the "combination of high charges at Government-owned airports and the €3 travel tax".
The airline said it will establish more bases in Europe where "airports offer considerably lower fees and other EU governments do not tax visitors".
Last August, the Government decided to retain the €3 travel tax as it was not happy with pledges from the airlines about increasing the number of passengers coming to Ireland. The decision will be reviewed this year.
Late last year, Ryanair ceased services from Dublin to Cork and Kerry because of a "marked decline" on traffic on the route. The airline also closed its Aberdeen-Dublin route and scaled back in its Shannon operations.
Today’s Ryanair statement comes after it announced five new bases including Billund (Denmark), Wroclaw (Poland), Palma (Spain), Manchester (UK) and Paphos in Cyprus.
The airline said it will be hiring pilots, cabin crew, engineers, sales and marketing personnel as it expects to see its passenger numbers grow from 76 million to 80 million in 2012.
Ryanair posted profits of €544 million in the six months to September 30th, an increase of 20 per cent, as a 13 per cent rise in average fares helped it offset a 37 per cent hike in fuel costs.