Ryanair expects to overtake easyJet as the UK’s leading airline in 2022.

Michael O’Leary, the low-cost carrier’s CEO, said it will be operating 103 aircraft from 19 UK airports this summer, following an investment of more than $10bn in aircraft technology allocated for the UK market.

“We expect to grow to carrying 44 million passengers this year, overtaking easyJet to become the UK’s number one airline,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“We expect to see very strong growth for Ryanair to and from the UK this year. It will be driven by our somewhat fortuitous fuel hedging strategy, which means we can pass on the benefit from $65 a barrel for almost all of the next 12 months.”

Fuel hedging is a strategy airlines use whereby they lock-in the cost of oil at a certain price for a certain period of time to protect against future price rises.

Ryanair has hedged 90 per cent of its fuel for the next 12 months.

The budget airline is pursuing an “aggressive growth strategy”, according to Mr O’Leary, with plans to carry 165 million passengers in total this year compared to 150 million pre-pandemic.

“That’s part of a five-year plan to grow to around 225 million guests by 2026,” he said.

This summer the carrier will fly to a record number of destinations, announcing its largest ever summer schedule from its three London airports: Gatwick, Luton and Stansted.

It is launching 14 new routes, to destinations including Naples, Madeira and Stockholm, bringing its total number to 181.

Mr O’Leary also called on the UK to scrap the aviation industry’s only tax, Air Passenger Duty (APD), for the next three to five years to support the recovery of the British tourism industry.

“Despite launching our biggest ever schedule, the UK government failed to support this recovery by delaying the reduction in APD until 2023,” he said.

“Ryanair again calls on the UK government to scrap APD completely, to allow airlines and airports to quickly restore traffic, jobs, and tourism.

“The 50 per cent reduction proposed for 2023 is too little, too late as APD puts UK airports at a severe cost disadvantage versus European competitors, and the absence of government support for aviation and tourism recovery creates further barriers to UK traffic and growth.”

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