Aer Lingus have made enormous efforts so that in their new base they will not have to pay the the same salary as Irish staff, but that they will only have to pay the local market rates. In this respect, the prospect of a UK base doesn't add up.
I do believe that Ryanair will pick a base in Eastern Europe from where they can fly to:
- Dublin, Cork, Shannon
- Manchester, Birmingham, London
- Amsterdam, Paris
Therefore I consider the following to be strong candidates:
- Riga
- Vilnius
- Warsaw
- Krakow