Low-cost airline Ryanair announced today that it will review routes and stop operating at some airports in France, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Spain, due to the increase in airport fees and taxes.
The Irish company, which advertises itself as the largest group in the sector in Europe, with 200,000 passengers on 3,600 daily flights from around 90 bases (37 countries, 626 aircraft), says it will invest in places where costs are lower and there is potential for growth in its business, such as Italy (except Rome), Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Albania and Morocco.
In the Spanish case, whose review had already been announced, the fare planned for 2026 by the concessionaire Aena will rise 6.5% to an average of 11 euros per passenger, after a decade-long freezing period, according to the EFE news agency.
Business experts argue that Ryanair has the same problem as several other airlines: there is a shortage of planes, as the major manufacturers, the European Airbus and the North American Boeing, have been accumulating delays in terms of deliveries and fleet renewals.
In addition to the lack of aircraft, which prevents demand from being met and limits supply to the most profitable airports, industry sources told EFE that another important factor has been the reduction or even cancellation of subsidies from local or regional authorities for airlines to promote their respective destinations.
In France, this Irish ‘low cost’ will abandon flights from Bergerac, Brive and Strasbourg, ending 25 connections in winter (750,000 seats, i.e. 13% of its offer). It will also reduce the capacity of those in Paris-Beauvais by 8%, 9% in Marseille and 4% in Toulouse.
In Germany, Ryanair will no longer provide 800,000 seats, around 10% of the planned supply, although it intends to start operating in some regional airports, abandoning nine others that it considers “expensive”, such as Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, thus ending 24 connections.
Austria is another of the countries that will be affected, with three fewer connections from Vienna to Billund (Denmark), Santander and Tallinn, due to the 30% increase in rates after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data declared by Ryanair.
At the beginning of the month, this airline had already announced the reduction of capacity in Riga (160,000 fewer passengers, 20%) and the end of seven international routes from that location.
In Lithuania, the company’s activity will also not experience any increase because fares in Vilnius have increased by 30% since 2023 and seven percent at the most touristic Palanga airport.
40% less (110,000 seats and five international connections) is what Estonia can expect, in Tallinn, because rates have increased by 70%, explained Ryanair, after there had already been a 45% cut (230,000 passengers).