The sight of Greek dancers greeting passengers at Stansted today as budget carrier Ryanair celebrated the launch of its summer season, which sees the addition of 13 new routes from the airport.

Destinations added by Ryanair to its summer schedule from Stansted this year include Athens, Basel, Bordeaux, Brive, Bucharest, Comiso, Dortmund, Lisbon, Osijek, Podgorica, Prague, Rabat and Skelleftea, bringing the airline’s total number of routes from Stansted to 126.

Together with additional flights on some existing routes, the expansion represents increased capacity for more than 1.3million passengers.

Ryanair’s Lisa Cashin said: “This is the first summer where Ryanair customers can enjoy a free small second carry-on bag, ‘quiet flights’, allocated seats and use their personal electronic devices at all stages of their flight, making Ryanair the ideal choice for families and friends looking to get away this summer, with a new website, smartphone app, and family and business products coming soon.”

To celebrate the start of the summer season, Ryanair is releasing 100,000 seats across its entire European network from just £19.99, for travel across Europe on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in May and June, which are available for booking until midnight Thursday, April 3.