Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) is reportedly planning to begin operations out of Düsseldorf in the near future. Airport spokesman Christian Hinkel told German magazine Der Westen that the Irish LCC was considering basing a single B737-800 at the airport to serve London and Budapest initially before expanding to Palma de Mallorca, Milan Bergamo, and Faro, but that no final agreement had been reached.

Ryanair, which currently serves the Dusseldorf area via its Düsseldorf Weeze base, would go head-to-head with Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) and Lufthansa's LCC subsidiaries, Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf), and germanwings (4U, Cologne/Bonn). According to ch-aviation capacity analysis, all three carriers currently control over 50% of Dusseldorf airport's overall capacity.

Earlier this year, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said the Irish carrier wants to grow its German marketshare from the current 4%, to 15-20% by 2018/19 by establishing a presence at at least twenty central German airports, including Munich but excluding Frankfurt International - home to Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International).