Low cost airline Ryanair’s announcement that it is to open a new base at Leeds Bradford International Airport creating around 1,000 new jobs has been hailed as good news for the Bradford economy.

The Dublin-based company will offer 14 new routes and 63 weekly return flights from the base taking its total number of destinations from the airport to 17.

More than $140 million (£84 million) of investment will see two new Ryanair aircraft based at Leeds Bradford and the number of its passengers using the airport rise to one million per year.

Business and regeneration chiefs in the city have welcomed the Ryanair move.

Coun Adrian Naylor, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration and the economy, said it was “extremely good news.”

He said the decision by Ryanair justified the planned major expansion of LBIA.

Coun Naylor said: “This is extremely good news and a major boost for the airport which is going through an expansion programme. It shows that the decision to invest in expanding Leeds Bradford airport was the right one.

“This decision by a major airline such as Ryanair is also testament to the fact that the Bradford and Leeds areas do have something to offer and are worth investing in.”

Sandy Needham, chief executive of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is a very positive development which we welcome. It’s very good news in terms of jobs and follows efforts by airport chiefs to attract new operators and routes to LBIA in order to expand services and passenger numbers.

“We would hope that whilst many of the routes are not obvious business destinations, if they provide more flexibility that is a good thing. Hopefully, they will help to boost the local economy by attracting more tourists to the region and that’s very important too.”

The airport’s chief executive, John Parkin, described the announcement as “a great vote of confidence” in both the airport and the region.

He added: “It shows Ryanair shares our confidence in the tremendous opportunity for strong market growth.”