Less than two weeks after a British low-fares airline said it would operate a new service from Dublin to Birmingham, Ryanair has hit back with the announcement yesterday that it would increase its frequency on the route from three flights to five flights daily, starting at the end of October.
The move will be seen as the first salvo in what is expected to be an aggressive war between the Irish airline and competitor MyTravelLite.
As well as announcing increased flights to the British city, Ryanair also said it was introducing two new routes: Birmingham to Barcelona (Girona) and Birmingham to Murcia. Both these airports are already served by MyTravelLite.
To "celebrate" the launch of its new services to Spain, Ryanair is also offering 30,000 free seats to the two destinations.
Commenting on the developments, Mr Tim Jeans, managing director of MyTravelLite and a former employee of the Irish airline, said he was not surprised by the Ryanair moves. He claimed that they were "entirely within the range of the scenarios I had outlined to our board".
An aggressive approach to competition is not unusual for Mr Michael O'Leary's company.
When British Airways low-fares airline Go tried to compete with Ryanair on the Dublin to Edinburgh route, a cut-throat fare war ensued, resulting in Go withdrawing its service.
The Birmingham route is a lucrative one for Ryanair, which claims to have doubled passenger numbers to 400,000 this year.
