According to the airline: “Ryanair's new base in Madeira represents the airline's commitment to Portugal and demonstrates its impact on the development of Portuguese tourism, with more than 40 weekly flights, on 10 new routes, including 5 exclusive ones, for next summer. Ryanair will also operate 160 Portuguese routes next summer (more than double TAP's) to 15 countries, making Ryanair the number one airline of choice, in terms of fares and time performance”.

Ryanair confirmed the new summer routes to Madeira for 2022 which include Brussels Charleroi, Dublin, Lisbon, London Stansted, Manchester, Marseilles, Milan Bergamo, Nuremberg, Paris Beauvais and Porto.

Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair said: “This $200 million investment will not only boost Portugal's economy by contributing to the growth of regional tourism, but will also create more than 60 direct jobs in the region and more than 400 indirect jobs locally in Madeira.

“At a time when it is possible to see other airlines reducing their fleets and closing bases, we are happy to continue investing both in our teams and in airports in Portugal. We encourage the Portuguese Government to do the same, with the opening of the new Lisbon-Montijo airport, eliminating the inappropriate aviation tax (which is a direct tax on tourism) and introducing a non-discriminatory traffic recovery scheme. All this could easily be financed with the €3.2bn of wasted state aid granted to TAP, the small zombie airline, by the Portuguese government.

Thierry Ligonnière, the CEO of ANA-VINCI Airports, said: “The announcement of the Ryanair base in Madeira for the summer of 2022 is excellent news for the Autonomous Region of Madeira. In addition to strengthening the existing partnership between VINCI and Ryanair, this base will allow, through the opening of 5 new routes in 2022, a significant increase in Madeira's connectivity, boosting the diversification of the tourist markets, which is so important for Portugal".