Ryanair (Dublin) announced today it will open its 50th base (and first in Cyprus) at Paphos (Cyprus’s third largest city) in April 2012 with two based Boeing 737-800 aircraft and 14 new routes. According to the airline,  the new base “will initially deliver over 600,000 passengers p.a. and sustain over 600 jobs with over 80 weekly flights as Ryanair invests over $140 million at Paphos Airport.”

In other news, Ryanair also announced today it will open seven new routes from Malta to Bournemouth, Kaunas, London (Stansted), Malmö, Oslo (Rygge), Turin and Wroclaw in May 2012. Ryanair’s seven new routes will combine for a total of 28 routes from Malta.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth. Boeing 737-8AS EI-DLS (msn 33621) taxies past the camera at Nantes, France with the special promotional “Comunitat Valenciana” markings.

Ryanair Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Routes from Malta (Luqa) (click on map to enlarge):