Ryanair flights from Brussels sell like hotcakes

Ryanair has sold 70% of its early flights out of Brussels Airport, which begin in two weeks. The low-cost airline is offering flights to 10 new destinations – Alicante, Malaga, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma, Ibiza, Lisbon, Porto, Rome and Venice – for a total of 196 flights a week. The company says it will create 1,500 new jobs at the airport in Zaventem.

Ryanair said that the first destination will account for 1.5 million new passengers a year for the airline, though the company is famous for exaggerating forecasts. Within five years, the airline foresees a doubling of its passenger numbers in Belgium, from the five million who flew out of Charleroi last year, to an eventual 10 million out of both locations.

In response to the arrival of Ryanair at Brussels Airport, Brussels Airlines added new destinations of its own, including Seville, Montpellier, Corsica, Malta and Athens, as well as additional flights to existing destinations. The company saw its passenger numbers go up by 12% in January compared to the same time last year to nearly 411,000 passengers.

photo courtesy of Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons