Irish budget carrier, Ryanair is to open a new operational base on the Greek island of Corfu for summer 2016. The airline will base a single Boeing 737-800 at Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport in Kerkyra from April 2016 to deliver eleven new routes and boost its network to 21 destinations.

Ryanair has been active in Corfu since July 2011 when it first introduced seasonal flights from London Stansted, growing further in March 2012 when a further seven destinations were linked to the popular holiday island. The airline now accounts for an up to 8.2 per cent share of the monthly capacity from Kerkyra - based on its busiest month (August 2015) – but continues to serve the market on a summer-only basis with no flights during the winter months.

The arrival of the single 737-800 will facilitate the introduction of new links to Corfu from Birmingham, Bratislava, Budapest, Cologne, Rome, Katowice, Poznan, Pisa, Rzeszow, Venice and Warsaw Modlin as well as enable increased frequencies on its existing routes from Brussels Charleroi, East Midlands, London Stansted and Milan Bergamo. Ryanair says the network growth will deliver approximately 300,000 additional customers per annum to the market.

The airline’s summer schedule shows it will offer once or twice weekly services on its new markets. Bratislava, Budapest, Katowice, Poznan, Pisa, Rzeszow, and Warsaw Modlin will be served weekly and Birmingham, Cologne, Pisa, Rome and Venice Treviso twice weekly. Additional single weekly rotations will see Brussels Charleroi and East Midlands served twice weekly in summer 2016 and London Stansted and Milan Bergamo served five times weekly.

“Greece is a significant growth market for Ryanair, and we will continue to connect our Greek airports with Europe’s major cities such as Brussels London and Milan, making Ryanair the ideal choice for business and leisure customers,” said David O’Brien, Chief Commercial Officer, Ryanair at the formal announcement of the new base this week.

Our analysis of OAG Schedules Analyser data shows the seasonality of the Ryanair operation at Corfu. It is unclear if the introduction of the based aircraft will bring year-round operations from the low-fare carrier or if Corfu will remain just a seasonal operation.