Another 300 aircraft with 280 to 300 passengers, thanks to cost discipline and the newest aircraft in our fleet, we can offer our passengers the cheapest tickets. Our unit cost, or cost per passenger, is about 35 euros. As you can see, all competition in Europe and in Poland is even several hundred percent more expensive than us.
This year, we grew by 4% in Europe to 208 million passengers. As I said, over the next 7 to 8 years, we will grow to 300 million passengers.
What is important from Poland's perspective is that we always locate our new fleet, which will be entering operations, in places that offer us better growth prospects. That is, in countries that guarantee investment in transport and guarantee economic stability and tax predictability.
Regarding the corner of a global carrier, if Europe wants to develop, it must be competitive and must allow companies operating in Europe, including airlines, to be competitive. It is very important that the European Union stops imposing taxes on the tourism industry, including airlines, which in practice limit our European competitiveness and develop the competitiveness of airlines located outside Europe.
The same applies to systems like ATC, which are obviously not good systems. Just last year, 33 million passengers suffered either flight cancellations or major delays due to insufficient staffing in air traffic control or other phenomena like strikes. This generated almost or over 15 million tons of additional CO2, resulting from the fact that aircraft were rerouted, changed routes, and had to bypass specific countries.
Additionally, as Ryanair, we advocate for a change in the rules for paying compensation, which are currently regulated in a way that is discriminatory towards low-cost carriers offering very cheap flights, while paying very high compensation, often not due to their own fault, but due to the fault of ATC.
Another issue is the baggage issue, which you will probably ask about today. Something that is currently happening at the level of the European Parliament. We are definitely in favor, as are basically all airlines in Europe, of the passenger choosing whether they want to fly with baggage or not, rather than an official deciding that all passengers must fly with baggage, and that's it.
Regarding ETS and CORSIA, maybe I'll move to the next slide which better illustrates this situation. We have been saying for a long time that this system requires urgent reform. This shows you the difference between a flight to... from Poland's perspective, it shows better because we fly more here. Look, a family of four flying to Greece pays 100 euros more than flying to Turkey. Why? Because Greece is covered by ETS and Turkey is not. And look at the route. It flies over Europe anyway. So tell me, what sense does this really make, how does this affect airlines that are European airlines versus those that are Turkish airlines? The same on the other side of Europe. You see Morocco and the Canary Islands.
Moving on to Poland. In total, 13 airports, on six we have based aircraft. 336 routes this summer, 40 new ones. We plan to transport 22 million passengers this year. 52 based aircraft in Poland, which is a total of over 5 billion in investments. We support over 18,000 jobs. Regarding Warsaw Modlin, Warsaw this year will be the fastest-growing airport not only in Poland but in this part of Europe. Seven based aircraft. I remind you that last year there were only four.
And we note some of them, their share price has collapsed by about 10 or 15% over the last two days. The third and more interesting development over the weekend has been, I think, a huge collapse, particularly over the Easter school holidays, of bookings for people going to the Middle East or going through the Middle East to go to Asia, Australia, somewhere else. We've seen a very significant surge in bookings, families booking to travel with us to Poland, to Portugal, to Spain, to Italy, and to Greece over the Easter holidays. So in one sense, it has been good for our business over the last two or three days because I think lots of people are reassessing their family travel plans over the Easter school holidays. And that certainly seems to be benefiting. We're seeing a growth in bookings on our flights to Poland, to as I said, to Italy, to Greece, to Portugal, to Spain. But we would hope that the war in Iran will finish quickly and that everything will return to as normal as it ever is in this world. Any questions? Yes sir.
Again, it all depends on how long this lasts. I don't think the war in Iran will last more than a week or 10 days, but what the hell do I know? But you know, if it's over reasonably quickly, I think this will be a reasonably short-term spike in bookings over the Easter holidays, over the school holidays. It's too early to say yet whether it will have any effect on bookings through the summer. If it's over reasonably quickly, and Trump has a short attention span so it would want to be over reasonably quickly or he'll get bored, then I don't think it will have any long-term effect. But it's undoubtedly in the short term good for our costs because we're hedged on fuel, and it's good for our bookings over the Easter, over the Easter school holidays. Next question. Yes sir.
I mean, well, we can't until the skies reopen. At the moment, the sky over Israel, Jordan, most of the Middle East are still closed. But we don't think that can happen probably before this weekend coming. Would we make available aircraft to others, for governments for repatriation? Yes, we certainly talk to them, but we don't have that many spare aircraft at the moment because we're getting ready for... we launch the big summer schedule in three, in four weeks' time at the end of March. But certainly wherever we can help with repatriations, we would try to be helpful. But our focus is our customers who are currently stranded in Jordan. Thanks. Yes sir. Yes.
So looking ahead to the next decade, say early 2030s, construction is underway on a new national airport between... the central communications. Does Ryanair in the future have any plans to potentially expand or to begin offerings from that location and to... its connections to... I doubt it. And we don't have any plans to do it. We want to continue to grow here in Chopin and in Warsaw Modlin, which would be our main gateways. As far as I'm aware, the central airport is about 100 km away. 50, it's 50 km away. It's a bit too far away to be accessible for Poland. But you know, we would certainly, if or when it is opened, we'll certainly look at it. But I'm not sure an airport that's 50 km outside the city is going to serve Warsaw. Warsaw is served with Chopin and with Modlin. We want to encourage Modlin Airport to keep expanding. We see no reason why Modlin won't grow to five or 10 million passengers a year over the next couple of years. And the joy of the airport in Modlin is it's modular. They can extend, keep extending the terminal in a modular fashion the way Bergamo has successfully. So our growth for the next two or three years is very much focused on Chopin and Modlin. We think there will be casualties within the airline industry here in Poland and that will create further opportunities for growth, particularly in Chopin. Gentlemen at the back.
No, there were some drone attacks on the UK air force base in southern Cyprus yesterday. Cyprus airspace remained open all day yesterday. Our operations and safety teams, as with EASA, continue to review the safety and security of airspace over Cyprus. But the Cypriot authorities are reasonably relaxed that there's no threat to flights to and from the island. It is very well defended, mainly by the UK military. And so for the moment, but it's a constant, we're reviewing it on a daily basis. Yes sir.
I think there would definitely be airlines going out of business in the not too distant future, but thankfully it won't be Ryanair. Yes sir. Oh madam, sorry.
I mean, as I try to expect, I think it very much depends on how long it goes on. You know, if you look back in history, 9/11, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, you know, were all reasonably short, you know, one, two, three, four-week events. They had a dramatic effect or they collapsed air travel for a week or two or three, but then things go back to normal very quickly. COVID was the one event that, you know, collapsed air travel for 18 months. But I would expect, and again I have no more insight than anybody else in the room, I would expect the events in Iran will be over or will finish reasonably quickly within a week or two. And therefore I would expect that air travel patterns will return to normal. I do think it will have a longer impact on bookings or tourism to the Gulf states. I think that will be disrupted for a year or two. Certainly connections through the Gulf airports, but they can restore the connections pretty quickly and they'll just drop prices. You know, none of the Gulf carriers need to make money. So, you know, they and I think the Gulf states will subsidize the recovery of air travel to and from the Gulf. But as long as the hostilities are over in Iran or in the Middle East within a week or two, then I think with the exception of the boost we will get over Easter, I don't think it will have much impact on summer travel. Already for the summer, we've taken delivery of 29 new aircraft from Boeing. We expect to grow traffic this year in the next 12 months from 208 million passengers last year to 216 million passengers. Some 2 million of that growth is taking place here in Poland. So Poland accounts on its own for 15% of our overall traffic growth this summer. Forward bookings are reasonably strong by volume. Pricing at the moment, pricing last year is up about 7-8%. We don't expect to see... I think pricing will be much closer to flat or up 2 or 3% this summer, but it's far too early to know and far too early to speculate. Jenny.
Yes, madam. We are planning to turn back to Israel for the winter season. We're planning, hoping to go back to Israel, but only when the Israeli authorities assure us that... I mean, the problem we've had in Israel is, you know, we operate to the low-cost terminal in Tel Aviv, but every time there's a security disruption, they close the low-cost terminal and move us to the high-cost terminal, which we say fine, but we're only paying the low-cost rates. They say no, you have to pay the high-cost rates. Well, you can't have 19 euro airfares on high-cost airport costs. So we've said, look, we're happy to go back to flying to Israel, but only when a) you guarantee you'll keep the low-cost terminal open, or if you move us from the low-cost terminal into the high-cost terminal, we're only paying the low-cost terminal cost. The Israelis can't have it both ways. They can't say, 'Well, we've got to close the low-cost terminal. Now, you go, we've already sold the tickets at 19 and 24 and 29, we can't be expected to pay 40 for their high-cost terminal in Tel Aviv.' So, the Israelis take the view, 'No, we're Israel, you do what we tell you.' And we take the view, go screw yourself. We have lots more reliable airport partners like Modlin and Chopin who we will grow, and we don't need to grow in Israel. Israel will need us before we need Israel, but we would be very keen to go back to Israel, but only when... in the past we haven't been there.
You said you are pushing the European Union on taxes, etc. How does this relate to the new system that has entered, the Entry System? Recently, one of your aircraft did not accept 80 people on board due to delays in passport control. Yes. Well, that is unfortunately, you know, we regret that. That is happening in Poland. Because the Border Guard started testing the system very late, only before Christmas, really in December, when there was the first passenger peak, they started testing the system. The check-in of every passenger, the first time they cross the border, must take time, because they manually fill in some data, and we understand that, okay, that's how it is. However, why couldn't this be done when there were really low schedule periods, that is, the autumn low, and let's be honest, right now we have February, which is also really a low schedule period, and it can be done. However, if I am testing the system, I have a full crew of border guards on the system and I try to check in as many passengers as possible in time. The problem here is that we cannot wait for passengers. If we have a slot at some airport, and we must maintain the historicity of slots, because otherwise these slots are lost after the season, we cannot wait, and this is not a justification for the slot coordinator at another airport that a queue formed at security or at passports. So I assume that in the coming summer season, the problem will end, right? However, if it doesn't end, then Polish airports really must prepare for major problems with passport queues, if it is to look like what we had at the beginning of December, and now a few days or weeks ago here in Poland. But you are cooperating with other airlines to push? Yes, of course. I mean, it's not just a Ryanair issue, to be clear. All carriers have exactly the same position as us. We are represented here by all associations.
Again, I come back to my previous answers. It all depends on how long it goes on. You know, my assumption is, you know, one, because I don't think the Iranians can kind of, you know, tolerate this bombardment for more than a week or two. I don't think the Israelis or the Americans intend to keep up this rate of bombardment for more than a week or two. So, it has to be over within a week or two or God knows what happens after that. And therefore in the very short term, this week, next week, there's a big spike up in oil prices and we've seen certainly there's a big collapse in bookings on airlines to the Middle East and a big surge in bookings on airlines within Europe, particularly I think the focus on the Easter holidays. But I don't think it has any fundamental change or impact on, excuse me, longer-term booking trends into May, June, July, and I don't see any real other impact. Certainly, you know, if you're looking for a kind of a six or a 12-month view, I think all of the Gulf states are going to suffer a damage to their tourism product. There will be uncertainty about the safety in the Gulf, but those airlines will respond, I think, by lowering airfares. They'll lose money for a year or two and the Gulf states will subsidize... I mean, there was discussion yesterday that the Gulf states would provide free hotel accommodation to you. So I think they will rebound very quickly once it's over, but it all depends how long it lasts and you know, the sooner it's over, the sooner I believe everything will largely go back to normal. The risk is that, you know, and I think for the Gulf states, the risk will be it's over pretty quickly in Iran but you have the kind of, you know, some of the Iranian sympathizers engaged in like terrorist attacks in hotels in the Gulf or terrorist attacks in European capitals. None of us know what happens after that.
First slide. We are the largest airline in Europe, offering the lowest ticket prices for passengers and guaranteeing the best punctuality in the industry. We operate from 224 airports in 36 countries. On 96 of them, we have based aircraft. These are the yellow markings on the map. Currently, we have 640 aircraft in our fleet. The plan is that over the next 8 years, our fleet will grow by another 300 aircraft, from 208 to 300 million passengers. Thanks to cost discipline and the newest aircraft in our fleet, we can offer our passengers the cheapest tickets. Our unit cost, or cost per passenger, is about 35 euros. As you can see, all competition in Europe and in Poland is even several hundred percent more expensive than us.
This year, we grew by 4% in Europe to 208 million passengers. As I said, over the next 7 to 8 years, we will grow to 300 million passengers. What is important from Poland's perspective is that we always locate our new fleet, which will be entering operations, in places that offer us better growth prospects. That is, in countries that guarantee investment in transport and guarantee economic stability and tax predictability.
Regarding the corner of a global carrier, if Europe wants to develop, it must be competitive and must allow companies operating in Europe, including airlines, to be competitive. It is very important that the European Union stops imposing taxes on the tourism industry, including airlines, which in practice limit our European competitiveness and develop the competitiveness of airlines located outside Europe. The same applies to systems like ATC, which are obviously not good systems. Just last year, 33 million passengers suffered either flight cancellations or major delays due to insufficient staffing in air traffic control or other phenomena like strikes. This generated almost or over 11 million tons of additional CO2, resulting from the fact that aircraft were rerouted, changed routes, and had to bypass specific countries. Additionally, as Ryanair, we advocate for a change in the rules for paying compensation, which are currently regulated in a way that is discriminatory towards low-cost carriers offering very cheap flights, while paying very high compensation, often not due to their own fault, but due to the fault of ATC.
Another issue is the baggage issue, which you will probably ask about today. Something that is currently happening at the level of the European Parliament. We are definitely in favor, as are basically all airlines in Europe, of the passenger choosing whether they want to fly with baggage or not, rather than an official deciding that all passengers must fly with baggage, and that's it.
Regarding ETS and CORSIA, maybe I'll move to the next slide which better illustrates this situation. We have been saying for a long time that this system requires urgent reform. This shows you the difference between a flight to... from Poland's perspective, it shows better because we fly more here. Look, a family of four flying to Greece pays 100 euros more than flying to Turkey. Why? Because Greece is covered by ETS and Turkey is not. And look at the route. It flies over Europe anyway. So tell me, what sense does this really make, how does this affect airlines that are European airlines versus those that are Turkish airlines? The same on the other side of Europe. You see Morocco and the Canary Islands.
Moving on to Poland. In total, 13 airports, on six we have based aircraft. 336 routes this summer, 40 new ones. We plan to transport 22 million passengers this year. 52 based aircraft in Poland, which is a total of over 5 billion in investments. We support over 18,000 jobs. Regarding Warsaw Modlin, Warsaw this year will be the fastest-growing airport not only in Poland but in this part of Europe. Seven based aircraft. I remind you that last year there were only four. 700 million investment just in the fleet. 49 routes, including seven new ones that we will offer this summer from Modlin. 3 million passengers, 2,500 jobs that we support only in Modlin and around Modlin. Regarding the second Warsaw airport, Chopin, here we have 12 routes, including three new routes, 700,000 passengers compared to 3 million in Modlin, so you see what a big difference there is. Which doesn't change the fact that also note that at Chopin we are systematically growing, already for several years. This year, we plan to transport 700,000 passengers from Chopin.
Regarding this, it refers to one of the previous slides where we showed where we will locate these 300 new aircraft. Here is a very important issue, that Poland today is a competitive market, but it must be a competitive market from the point of view of transport for one reason. Poland is a peripheral country of the European Union. There is no alternative to air transport. You cannot get quickly and cheaply from our part of Europe to Central, Western Europe. Not to mention, of course, the British Isles, Ireland, and southern Spain. Given our peripheral location, transport must be accessible to passengers, must be accessible to citizens. We cannot ruin this in any way. By introducing additional fees or additional taxes or creating a certain instability of the system, which recently was indicated by the Ministry of Infrastructure, albeit only in interviews.
And in summary. Airline number 1, 22 million passengers this year in Poland. Not almost, but twice as many as the second national carrier will transport this year, let's call it that. Warsaw Modlin 100% growth. The largest and fastest growth in this part of Europe. 3 million passengers. Warsaw Chopin 700,000 passengers. Large Ryanair investments not only in Warsaw, because I remind you of our Krakow Sim Center, Wrocław, hangars, IT infrastructure, all these are investments that attract, which are a consequence of our schedule from Poland. 52 based aircraft. And finally, as usual, promotion. We encourage you until March 6th from Modlin, 126 PLN for a ticket. Visit our website. Thanks.
Are there any questions? Very much, Mil. So two things. One, we're back to growing very strongly here in Warsaw and in Poland. This wouldn't have been possible without the new management team who are here, join us here this morning, led by Jacek Kowalski, who's leading the team in Warsaw Modlin. They are extending the terminal building. They're extending the facilities without which we couldn't grow in Modlin. We've also reached a long-term growth agreement with the airport that will see us, as we said, double traffic this year from about 1.5 million passengers last year back to over 3 million passengers this year. The growth is not just confined to Modlin, we're also going to grow in Chopin. Not quite as fast as in Modlin, but a combination of 3 million passengers in Modlin this year and 7...
