Costa Cruises has signed a surprising commercial partnership with the UK budget airliner Ryanair. The Italian company will become the only cruise line to feature on the Ryanair website. The three-year deal will see more than 5O routes flown by the airline connecting to Costa departure points. The agreement is designed to expand the reach of cruise-only deals, particularly to the Mediterranean. 

Costa's cruises are available to book from Ryanair's website in the UK and will be introduced to the carrier's other sites in seven other European countries including Ireland.

Costa UK managing director Marco Rosa made it clear that the airline would not be offered preferential rates that would undercut existing agency partners. "We want to reassure agents that we won't be trashing prices through the Ryanair website," he said. "This is a new product. We don't want to move the typical cruise passenger who would book through a travel agent. "This is one extra channel on top of the existing ones." Rosa made it clear that the line was looking for supplementary business from current Ryanair passengers who would be new to cruising. He believes the first immediate result of the tie-up would be enhanced recognition of the Costa brand in the UK. "There are a number of passengers we are missing because we are not so strong online," he said. "Our growth until 2O12 is huge and everyone is growing capacity so the whole point is finding new passengers." Rosa added that the line hoped to attract younger, web savvy passengers through the Ryanair agreement.

Costa is offering €1OO on board credit for each cabin booked via the Ryanair website until March 16. The line, which carried 1.2 million passengers last year, has a target to carry 1.5 million by 2O1O - the equivalent to the total number of people from the UK taking cruise holidays.

Costa is introducing five new ships by 2O12, three of which will enter service over the next 12 months. Ryanair flights connect with Costa departure ports including Venice, Savona, Civitavecchia, Palermo, Barcelona, Marseilles and Kiel.

The line's Europe and new markets sales director Angelo Capurro was unable to specify the number of additrional bookings Costa would achieve through the Ryanair deal. But he said: "The agreement enables us to further extend our potential customer base by reaching a type of traveller that regularly uses the web, namely professionals aged between 25 and 45.

"This strategy is very much in line with our large scale fleet expansion programme with five new ships due to enter service, three of which to be delivered over the next 12 months."

The airline's commercial revenue director Sinead Finn said: "Ryanair and Costa Cruises will increase the accessibility and affordability of cruise holidays and bring greater choice to those looking to beat the recession but who still want to get away for a relaxing holiday."