FRANKFURT (Reuters) — Irish low-cost airline Ryanair plans to start serving larger airports in a bid to double passenger numbers, its chief executive said in an interview with German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.“If we want to be so big in five years’ time, we can’t avoid such airports,” Michael O’Leary told the magazine in an interview released ahead of publication today.

Ryanair has focused its network so far on airports where landing fees and other costs are low.

“Five years from now we will carry 85 million passengers, twice as many as today, and will have expanded our network,” he said.

Ryanair plans to use part of its [EURO]2.4 billion ($3.2 billion) cash pile to pay a special dividend or buy back shares at the end of the year, the magazine said.