Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget carrier, has announced the launch eight new services, bringing the total to 27 flights from Edinburgh, up from 19 at the same time last year.

The airline will be focussing its efforts on routes popular in winter like Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife, as well as city break locations such as Brussels, Munich, Gdansk and Oslo.

Ryanair hope to increase passenger numbers up to 2 million at Edinburgh airport and sustain 2,000 local jobs.

The services will open from October until March 2010.

Ryanair’s announcement comes just days after the airline had decided to cull many of it’s Manchester routes in a dispute over airport charges.

Managing director of Edinburgh Airport, Gordon Dewar, said: “We are delighted that Ryanair have once again committed to expanding their operation out of Edinburgh Airport, now the fastest growing airport anywhere in the UK.

“These are exciting new destinations, which will give our increasing numbers of passengers an even greater choice of places to jet off to this winter.

“We are particularly pleased to see new routes to Germany, Spain and Norway, key tourism markets for Scotland, particularly over the Christmas and New Year period.”

Thanks to BBC News for the above quotes.  For more information on this article please visit bbcnews.com