The Irish carrier will operate a total of 12 services a week to those destinations initially.
It hopes to add four more Manchester routes by June and a further four by summer 2009.
Airport bosses were jubilant at the news, which came a day after easyJet said it would establish a base at Manchester next spring, serving Tenerife, Cyprus, Malta and Crete initially.
The airline will be the 10th low-cost carrier to operate from Manchester, alongside the likes of Jet2.com, bmi baby, flybe and several overseas-based outfits.
Three years ago, only six were running services and carried 2.2m passengers - 11 per cent of the total number of travellers who used the airport. This year, more than five million passengers will travel on no-frills services, 23 per cent of the total.
Manchester Airport commercial director, Rowena Burns, said low-cost airlines now account for most of the growth in services and passenger numbers, having filled a gap when British Airways stopped operating most of its flights.
BA now only serves London and New York from Manchester.
Meanwhile, flybe has announced a new service to Inverness and has added a morning Glasgow flight. It plans to use larger aircraft on other routes during the summer.
CSA Czech Airlines will increase frequency to Prague from next summer. Finnair will add a third daily flight to Helsinki from May.
Tweet
