Today Ryanair announces four brand-new destinations, 16 new routes, and an official “base” designation for Dusseldorf Weeze.

Gulp. Even by Ryanair’s quasi-colonialist standards, this is a big day.

We’re most excited about the airline’s new destinations: Zadar, Maastricht, Alicante, and Palma. Ryanair will fly to Zadar from Stansted, adding to current low-cost routes to the Adriatic destination from central Europe on SkyEurope and Germanwings. Ryanair will fly between the pleasant southern Dutch city of Maastricht and Barcelona Girona.

The Irish low-cost carrier will enter into direct competition with other low-cost carriers on routes to two other new destinations. Ryanair will compete with Air Berlin on Dusseldorf-Alicante, easyJet on Liverpool-Alicante, and multiple carriers on London-Alicante routes. They’ll compete with Air Berlin on Dusseldorf-Palma and Frankfurt-Palma, easyJet on Liverpool-Palma, and multiple carriers on London-Palma routes.

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