Four new Ryanair routes from Shannon, Dublin

Ryanair has announced new routes from Shannon and Dublin airports.

Low-fares airline Ryanair has announced new routes from Shannon and Dublin airports that will launch next year.

The carrier will begin flying from Shannon to Alicante and from Dublin to Palma, Santander and Zadar in Croatia from March 2008.

These services bring the number of Ryanair routes from Dublin to 83, while the new connection from Shannon is the 31st provided by Ryanair from the airport.

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of the airline, said: "Ryanair's low fares are delivering record growth for Irish tourism on 135 routes from seven Irish airports."

He added: "In two weeks' time, Ryanair will open eight new routes from Shannon, including its first domestic service from Shannon to Dublin."

Next year, the low-cost carrier expects to carry over 13 million passengers on its routes to and from Ireland.