Plane not train: Cornwall set for further tourist spike as Ryanair launches London-Newquay route
Newquay residents are set to complain even further about the hordes of Londoners descending into Cornwall after Ryanair announced new services from London Stansted to Newquay.
The low-cost carrier said today it will operate three weekly flights to Cornwall as part of its ramped up summer schedule, which also includes additional services to Spain and Germany.
Ryanair has also announced new services to Belfast and Edinburgh as the carrier capitalises on the government’s decision to cut air passenger duty (APD) by 50 per cent.
APD is an excise duty levied per passenger flying both domestically and internationally from the UK. Initially announced in October 2021, the halving of APD for domestic travel will take effect from April.
“Ryanair is pleased to bring even more choice to London citizens and visitors for summer ‘23,” said chief executive Michael O’Leary.
“Our schedule has grown 10 per cent on last summer, with 3,000 weekly flights scheduled across 180+ routes.”
According to O’Leary, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should scrap APD for all travel if he wants to “grow and drive traffic/tourism recovery for the UK.”
A spokesperson for Visit Cornwall, the region’s tourism board, said: “We know that many people in Scotland would love to come to Cornwall but are put off by the 8/10 hour car drive or rail journey. This new route now makes Cornwall only circa two hours away. This will not only develop two way traffic, with Cornish residents visiting Scotland and Scottish residents visiting our wonderful region, but will also enable families and friends who are living at either end of the nation to share time together.”