Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) is in talks with French regional airports and may open up to four bases in the country by 2020, with the first one potentially operational already in winter 2018/2019, Chief Commercial Officer David O'Brien said during a press conference in Paris.

The move follows a recent change in the low-cost carrier's employment policy as it recognised trade unions at the end of 2017, following a pilot shortage in autumn. Ryanair is also talking to the French pilot union SNPL and will offer jobs at its French bases under the local labour law.

While the carrier has not decided on the bases' locations yet, O'Brien mentioned Marseilles, Paris Beauvais, Lyon St. Exupéry, Toulouse Blagnac and Nantes as potential locations. Ryanair plans to base up to thirty B737-800s out of France in the initial phase.

O'Brien added that the airline may seek slots in metropolitan Paris, either at Paris Orly or Paris CDG. He called upon the French authorities to privatise and split ownership of the two airports, which are currently jointly managed by Aéroports de Paris, to increase competition and improve efficiency.

During the same press conference, Ryanair announced the addition of ten new routes out of four French airports, its largest one-time expansion in the country for some time.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Ryanair currently serves 27 French airports, with the largest by capacity being Paris Beauvais, Marseille, Toulouse Blagnac, and Bordeaux Mérignac. It does not base any aircraft out of the country and has only 4.6% market share by capacity out of France.

The LCC closed its only French base, in Marseilles, in early 2011 after a French court ruled that all flight and cabin crew employed at the French port city were subject to French labour laws, granting better social protection and rights to employees in comparison to Irish law. In September 2017, Ryanair lost a case in the European Court of Justice which ruled that the airline's crews employed at bases outside Ireland should not be subject to the Irish labour law.

Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary had earlier suggested that thanks to new employment rules the carrier could also expand in Scandinavia.