Ryanair has announced that it has cut 12 routes in Spain, leading to a loss of around 800,000 sears as it calls out an airport operator for its ‘excessive airport charges’
Ryanair has announced that ir is cutting two routes, reducing capacity on 12 routes and getting rid of 800,000 seats for its Spanish Summer season 2025.
The budget airline has decided to close its Jerez and Valladolid operations, remove one aircraft based at Santiago equal to $100 million (£82.1 million) investment and will cut traffic at five other regional airports – Vigo, Santiago, Zaragoza, Asturias and Santander, for Summer 2025.
The decision will be a blow to those with plans to visit the Andalusian city Jerez and Valladolid in Castile. It comes amid a row between Ryanair and Aena, which operates 48 airports in Spain. Ryanair claims that – despite the Spanish Government’s ruling in 2021 that charges should be frozen at Aena airports until 2026 – Aena has tried to increase charges to airlines yearly, and most acutely at Spanish regional airports where traffic remains below pre-Covid levels.
Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said: “Aena’s excessive airport charges and lack of workable growth incentives continue to undermine Spain’s regional airports, limiting their growth and leaving vast swathes of airport’s capacity underutilised.”
Mr Wilson claimed that Ryanair- had increased capacity to boost connectivity, tourism and employment following the Spanish Government’s drive for post-Covid recovery. “Yet, Aena persists with unjustified charge hikes and refuses to implement effective incentive schemes to support Spain’s regional growth, instead prioritising foreign investments in airports across the Caribbean, UK, and the Americas,” he explained.
“Aena’s refusal to incentivise airlines to use underutilised capacity at its regional airports has forced Ryanair to reallocate aircraft and capacity to more competitive European markets, such as Italy, Sweden, Croatia, Hungary, and Morocco, where governments are actively incentivising growth.
“Ryanair has long championed and invested in regional airports supporting low-fare access for tourism and jobs, but Aena refuses to use its regional airport structure to support Spanish regional investment, instead prioritiwing investments in airports outside of Spain. While Ryanair welcomes CNMC recent decision to block Aena’s increase for 2025, it does not undo the damage caused by Aena’s 2024 increases and lack of incentives at regional airports.”
Ryanair is now urging the CNMC to reverse Aena’s 2024 charge increases to align with the Government’s five-year charge freeze. The airline is also asking that incentive packages be implemented to attract airlines and grow connectivity, tourism, and jobs at regional airports.
“Without urgent action, Spain risks losing further capacity and investment to more competitive markets, leaving regional airports half empty while Spain’s competitors thrive,” Mr Wilson added.
A spokesperson from Aena hit back at the criticism from Ryanair. “In reality, what Ryanair has announced today is that it will withdraw a very small percentage, in relative terms, of its total operations. In the case of Spain, from Aena’s Spanish airports, the 800,000 seats they announced today account for exactly 1.21 per cent of all passenger traffic they carried in 2024,” they told the Mirror.
“But they are using it spuriously, that is to say, manipulatively, as a weapon to shamelessly put pressure on Aena, the regional governments and the central government without any justification”.
The Aena spokesperson insisted that its fees are among the “lowest in Europe and are frozen”, adding that the regional airports that Ryanair refers to, with commercial incentives, are way below the average of €10.35 (£8.74), instead costing around €2 (£1.69) per passenger. “In short, it’s all rather unpleasant and regrettable,” they concluded.
