Ryanair's new route to Dublin opens in October 2019 and will have two weekly departures. Dublin has long been high on the wish list in Western Denmark as the route among other things may play an important role in the development of the data centre industry in Jutland and on Funen.

So far, large data centre projects have started or been planned in Viborg, Odense, Frederica and Aabenraa. Here Irish companies, with experience from existing data centre projects in Ireland, have won some of the contracts in the construction phase and these companies have created a great demand for a direct route between Dublin and Billund.

We are pleased that there is now a direct connection between Billund and Dublin. Invest in Denmark is committed to attracting air routes to Denmark as we know that air routes have a significant positive effect in terms of increased exports, investments and tourism. Therefore, another international connection to Billund is great news. This route is partly a result of recent years' large foreign investments in data centres in Jutland and Funen, where we have seen a lot of travel activity to and from the ecosystem around data centres in Dublin. Looking ahead, we hope that the route will help to attract more technology companies to Denmark.

Steen Hommel, Director

Invest in Denmark

In addition to business traffic, the route is an advantage for people from Jutland and Funen who wish to visit Ireland and Dublin. Billund Airport also expects that the route will bring even more Irish tourists to the West Danish attractions and hotels.

"The growth in the number of Irish tourists coming to Western Denmark has increased significantly over the past five years. Last year, 5,500 Irish people visited the area. This has contributed to Ryanair's opening of the route, which we expect will bring even more Irish tourists to visit places such as LEGOLAND Billund Resort, Odense and Aarhus,” says Jan Hessellund, CEO of Billund Airport

The route to Dublin becomes the ninth new route that opens from Billund in 2019. The other eight new routes are: Kiev, Krakow, Timisoara, Faro, Azores, Prague, Stord and Edinburgh.