Two aircraft are to be stationed in the southern German city in the summer of 2022 and 13 new destinations will be served, mainly in southern, south-eastern and eastern Europe, the airline announced in Nuremberg on Wednesday.

“We never wanted to leave in the first place and now we’re back,” Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson said.

Ryanair had closed its base in Nuremberg in 2019. At the time, the airline had justified its withdrawal, among other things, with the flight ban at the time following crashes of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft that were based there.

Since then, there have been fewer Ryanair flights from Nuremberg and no aircraft stationed there.

In total, Ryanair will be able to reach 27 destinations with 85 flights per week from March 2022, including the Estonian capital Tallinn, the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Chania on Crete, Venice in Italy and Faro in Portugal.

Nuremberg’s Lord Mayor Marcus Koenig spoke of a balanced mix of European city connections, tourist destinations around the Mediterranean and opportunities for family visits in Central and Eastern Europe.

According to Ryanair, it plans to invest 200 million dollars in the new base.

More than 60 direct jobs will be created, and around 970 jobs are expected to be created in the region as a result of the increased number of flights in the area.