Ryanair announced this Wednesday that it will cut its capacity for the winter 2025 season with a 41% reduction at Spanish regional airports and a 10% reduction in the Canary Islands. In total, over one million seats will be lost next winter—approximately two million per year—due to what the airline describes as “excessive and uncompetitive airport fees” applied by AENA.
According to Ryanair, the situation will worsen following AENA’s decision to impose a 6.62% increase starting in 2026, the highest in over a decade, despite having recorded record profits in the last financial year.
Direct Impact on Vulnerable Regions
The airline warns that these adjustments will affect investment, tourism, connectivity, and employment in Spanish regions, especially those with lower air traffic. Ryanair highlights that it contributes €28 billion to GDP, invests over €10 billion in local operations, and sustains more than 10,000 jobs for pilots, cabin crew, and engineers.
Measures Adopted by Ryanair
- Capacity reduction at regional airports: -41% (-600,000 seats).
- Reduction in the Canary Islands: -10% (-400,000 seats).
- Closure of the Santiago de Compostela base, resulting in the loss of a $200 million investment in Galicia.
- Suspension of flights to Vigo (January 2026) and Tenerife North (winter 2025).
- Closure of Valladolid and Jerez airports for the entire winter 2025 season.
- Additional reductions in Zaragoza (-45%), Santander (-38%), Asturias (-16%), and Vitoria (-2%).
- Cancellation of 36 direct routes with regional Spain and the Canary Islands.
→ Ryanair Sets New Record in August: 21 Million Passengers Carried
Spain Loses Ground to Other Countries
The airline compares Spanish policy with that of other European and North African markets. Countries like Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Albania, Hungary, and Sweden are reducing access costs at regional airports to stimulate traffic, while Spain maintains fees that make it “uncompetitive.” According to Ryanair, the country’s regional airports currently operate with 70% unused capacity.
Eddie Wilson, CEO of the airline, stated: “AENA and the Spanish Government’s decision to increase airport fees by 6.62% is proof that there is no interest in developing traffic at regional airports, but rather in squeezing record profits from the country’s major airports. As a result, a significant portion of Ryanair’s capacity in Spain will be moved to more efficient destinations like Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Sweden, or Hungary.”
Wilson insisted that the measure will lead to the loss of two million seats in regional Spain and questioned the Government’s long-term strategy for airports that currently remain underutilised.
A Call to Authorities
The company reiterated its willingness to invest and grow in Spain but stated it cannot sustain that commitment with fees that block expansion. Ryanair requested that the CNMC (National Markets and Competition Commission) and the Spanish Government reject the announced increases and extend the fee freeze to preserve tourism, employment, and regional connectivity.
AENA Responds
“The insolence and uninhibited nature of Ryanair’s public demands on the democratic governments of the countries in which it operates its aircraft, in order to obtain economic advantages, reveal two very deep-rooted and unedifying characteristics of this airline. The first is that Ryanair has a disturbing plutocratic conception of the political system; that is, it frightens public opinion with the withdrawal of its aircraft, calls for the resignation of ministers across half of Europe and the President of the European Commission, mocks democratically elected politicians, and demands changes to laws in its favour because it believes that government decision-making should bow to the interests of companies with the greatest economic power, like Ryanair, instead of protecting the ‘general interest’. The second characteristic is a Ryanair policy of communication and institutional relations in permanent and deliberate collision with objective facts and truthfulness,” AENA said in a statement.
“The setting of Aena’s airport fees is not the result of any capricious decision by this company. Law 18/2014 and its subsequent regulatory developments, which were drafted and approved by the PP (Partido Popular) in 2014, exhaustively determine how airport fees must be approved. Legally, these are ‘public monetary charges’ because Aena’s aeronautical activity is subject to economic regulation anchored in solid microeconomic principles. Contrary to Ryanair’s claims, neither the Spanish Government nor Aena can arbitrarily modify the airport fees defined by law, as they would be acting illegally if they were to unjustifiably distort these public monetary charges, whose nature is very different from ordinary private prices. Ryanair knows all this perfectly well, but with its fallacious public statements it tries to mislead public opinion to favour its own interests,” it added.
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