Ryanair launches more routes from Sweden as aviation tax scrapped
Adds details and CEO comments on domestic travel and competition from paragraph 6
STOCKHOLM, Sept 25 (Reuters) -Ryanair RYA.I will offer more flights from Sweden, adding two aircraft to its fleet there and will consider reintroducing domestic flights following a government decision to scrap an aviation tax, the airline said on Wednesday.
As part of the expansion, Ryanair will introduce 10 additional routes to international destinations from mid-2025.
"Sweden is suddenly more attractive," Eddie Wilson, the chief executive of the group's largest airline, Ryanair DAC, told a press conference in Stockholm.
Sweden's right-wing government last month announced it would end the tax on airline tickets from the middle of next year, aiming to reduce prices and boost availability.
The tax was introduced in 2018 by the then-ruling centre-left government which sought to raise the cost of carbon emissions that cause climate change.
Competition is intensifying in the Nordic market, with Scandinavian airline SAS in August completing a restructuring that boosted its finances and announcing a deal last week with a regional carrier to increase SAS' domestic Swedish flights.
Ryanair had earlier stopped operating in Sweden's domestic market.
"Aviation taxes kill domestic travel," Wilson said, adding that while customers might be willing to pay tax for longer travel they would not for shorter domestic flights.
On Wednesday, Ryanair said it expected to be able to eventually return to the domestic market.
"If this competitive situation for Swedish airports continues, I think you'll see us reintroduce some of those domestic services," Wilson said.
He told Reuters there were no plans to expand presence in terms of aircraft in neighbouring Norway or Denmark.
"Sweden will win all day long in the current environment for Ryanair to allocate its capacity there, because it makes financial sense to do that," he said.
Nordic rival Norwegian Air NAS.OL last year announced the takeover of Wideroe, a domestic competitor in Norway flying smaller airplanes and serving regional airports.
Reporting by Marie Mannes, editing by Terje Solsvik, Alexandra Hudson
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