Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) has announced it will open its 17th Italian base at Naples Capodichino with effect from March 2017 onwards.

Using a fleet of three B737-800 aircraft, the LCC will gradually roll out flights from the southern Italian port city to seventeen European cities including Bremen Hans Koschnick, Copenhagen Kastrup, Nottingham East Midlands, Eindhoven, Frankfurt Hahn, Gdansk, Kaunas International, Lisbon, Madrid Barajas, Manchester, Milan Bergamo, Sevilla, Stockholm Skavsta, Toulouse Blagnac, Venice Treviso, Valencia Manises, and Warsaw Modlin.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, rival LCC easyJet (London Luton) is currently the largest operator in Naples commanding almost 36% of all weekly capacity (20,928 seats) with a total of thirty-three routes. As such, Ryanair's Naples network will cover a total of eleven countries serving 1 million passengers annually.

In announcing the news, David O’Brien, Chief Commercial Officer of Ryanair, acknowledged the hard work of Naples airport to reach this point. He also singled out Italian transport minister, Graziano Delrio, for praise given government's recent decision to roll back a municipal tax which, Ryanair had warned, would curtail its investment in the country.

“I should also acknowledge the important decisions of the Renzi government and in particular Minister Delrio, who took the very wise decision to reverse the municipal tax increases, which has enabled Ryanair this year to announce plans to grow from 32 to 36 million passengers in Italy,” he said.