Ryanair will also stop operating in six other European countries due to taxes

Ryanair this abandoning routes and airports not only in Spain but also in various countries in Europe (France, Germany, Austria and the three Baltic countries, fundamentally), with a common argument: the increase in airport fees and taxes. In recent weeks, Ryanair has announced cuts to operations in France, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in addition to those advanced for Spain, because it considers the fees charged by the different airport managers to be anti-competitive.

At the same time, he ensures that will shift capacity to countries where rates are lower and have greater growth potential: Italy (except Rome, where it also requires lower costs), Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Albania and Morocco. In Spain specifically, the Aena fare planned for 2026 rises by 6.5% (0.68 cents) to an average of 11.03 euros per passenger, after having been frozen for practically 10 years. At regional airports it offers discounts that can put the fare below five euros, according to manager sources.

Lack of planes?

Sources from the airline sector explain that in reality the irish company has a problemcommon to all airlines, with the lack of airplanes, because the large manufacturers (Airbus and Boeing) accumulate important delays in your deliveries. Ryanair has 636 aircraft, of which 610 are Boeing.

This shortage of material prevents meeting all potential demand and leads them to reassign their aircraft to those airports that are most profitable and have the highest load factor and discard others with lower volume. Other sources in aviation add another factor: the reduction or elimination of aid by regional or local authorities to airlines to promote their places as destinations.

In Spain, its second market after Italy and where it is the leader ahead of Vueling and Iberia, admits that all his flights are profitablebut has announced a capacity cut that now totals three million seats and demands Aena a substantial reduction in rates especially at regional airports. To the cessation of operations in Valladolid and Jerez last summer, this winter adds the closure of the Santiago de Compostela base and the abandonment of Tenerife North and Vigo, and next summer the end of activity in Asturias.

France, Germany, Austria

In Francethe ‘low cost’ will stop operating at three airports (Bergerac, Brive and Strasbourg) and will eliminate 25 lines in the winter season, with 750,000 places (13% of your offer). It will also reduce capacity by 8% on the Paris-Beauvais connections, 9% in Marseille and 4% in Toulouse, after the increase by 180%, according to its figures, in the tax on air transport.

In Germanywill reduce 800,000 places this winter, 10% of the planned supply. Although it grows in low-cost regional airports, it cuts positions in nine airports that it considers “expensive”, such as Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, and cancels 24 connections with the same argument. “The high access costs in Germany contrast sharply with countries such as Ireland, Spain and Poland, which do not apply taxes to air transport,” the company explains in a note.

Likewise, it will have less capacity in Austriawhere it will eliminate three planes and three connections in Vienna (Billund, Santander and Tallinn), where rates have risen 30% since the pandemic, according to its data.

Reductions in the three Baltic countries

Earlier this month Ryanair published a capacity reduction in Riga (Latvia) for winter 2025 in 160,000 seats (20%) and the cancellation of seven international routes due to increasing costs. Also in Lithuania It will slow down activity, since it does not contemplate capacity growth for this winter because rates at the airport in the capital, Vilnius, have risen by 30% since 2023 and by 7% in Palanga, a tourist hotspot in the Baltic.

In Estonia will cut its capacity 40% (110,000 seats and five international routes) at Tallinn airport for the winter due to a 70% rise in airport costs. This summer it already applied a capacity cut of 45% (230,000 seats). For the three Baltic markets, it ensures that, in the absence of rate increases, it would double capacity to 7.6 million seats and increase the number of aircraft.

Battle with the City Council of Rome

In Italy, although it is its main market and grows on regional bases, has opened a conflict with the City Council of Romewhere it will reduce its base from 17 to 16 aircraft and will not increase capacity this winter. They are thus protesting the tax increase announced for 2028 at the city’s two airports (Fuimicino, 15% and Ciampino, 44%) and the decision to increase the municipal tax in both from April 2025. To this is added the freezing of capacity at Ciampino (mainly serving ‘low cost’ traffic to and from Rome) to 65 daily flights, half of what Ryanair believes it can operate.