Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (Wed, 26 Nov) called on Prime Minister De Wever and his Govt to abolish its aviation tax, not double it. This short-sighted plan to double Belgium’s already sky-high aviation tax to €10 per departing passenger from 2027 imposes an excessive tax on Belgian citizens which was already hiked up +150% from July 2025, and now less than 4 months later, the Govt is proposing to impose a further +100% increase.
Doubling this tax would make Belgium even less competitive compared with other EU markets like Sweden, Hungary, and Slovakia, where Govts are abolishing aviation taxes to drive traffic, tourism, and jobs. Even Germany has now recognised that aviation taxes don’t work. If Belgium wants to grow connectivity and its economy, it must follow suit, not double a tax that is already holding the country back.
Ryanair’s CCO Jason McGuinness said:
“Prime Minister De Wever’s Govt is once again hammering ordinary Belgian passengers with another reckless aviation tax hike. Just months after increasing this tax by 150%, the Govt now plans to double it again to €10 from 2027. This hike will make flying even more expensive for hardworking Belgian families.
While countries like Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, and regional Italy are cutting or abolishing aviation taxes to stimulate growth, Belgium is moving in the opposite direction, making itself one of the least competitive markets in Europe. These repeated tax hikes will only drive away traffic, damage tourism, and destroy jobs, ultimately leaving Belgium with less revenue than a pro-growth policy would deliver.
If the Govt is serious about boosting connectivity, tourism and employment, it should abolish its aviation tax and adopt policies that support aviation, instead of punishing its own citizens yet again.”
Ryanair today (26 Nov) welcomes the Berlin Regional Court permanent injunction prohibiting Edreams from using a “misleading” statement regarding alleged savings and from using a number of its Edreams Prime terms and conditions that the Berlin Court found were unlawful and therefore unfair under the German Unfair Competition Act.
The Berlin Court granted the permanent injunction following its October 2024 findings that several Edreams Prime terms were “unlawful”, “misleading” and a violation of the “transparency requirement” under German consumer protection law. The permanent injunction, issued after Edreams agreed to address transparency breaches identified by Ryanair, prohibits Edreams from failing to disclose when Prime fee increases may occur, from imposing terms that imply continued use of Prime equals acceptance of price hikes, and from making misleading savings claims.
Ryanair’s spokesperson said:
“We welcome the Berlin Regional Court’s decision to grant a permanent injunction prohibiting Edreams from using Edreams Prime terms and conditions that the Court has previously found to be “unlawful” or “misleading” under the German Unfair Competition Act and also terms that the Court found to be in violation of the “transparency requirements” under German consumer protection law.
Ryanair again calls on EU Consumer Protection Authorities to take urgent action to safeguard consumers across Europe by applying transparency standards and consumer protections that match the high standards applied by Ryanair’s OTA partners.”
AZORES LOSES 6 ROUTES & 400,000 PASSENGERS P.A.
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs 20 Nov) announced that it will cancel all flights to/from the Azores from 29 March 2026 onwards due to high airport fees (set by the French airport monopoly ANA) and Portuguese Govt. inaction that has increased ATC charges by +120% post covid and introduced a €2 travel tax, at a time when other EU States are abolishing travel taxes to secure scare capacity growth.
Sadly, the ANA monopoly has no plan to grow low-fare connectivity to the Azores. The ANA monopoly faces no competition in Portugal – which has allowed it to extract monopoly profits, by raising Portuguese airport fees without penalty – at a time when competing EU airports are lowering fees to stimulate growth. The Portuguese Govt. must intervene and ensure that its airports which are a critical part of national infrastructure – especially in an island economy like the Azores – are used to benefit the Portuguese people, rather than benefitting a French airport monopoly.
The competitiveness of remote European regions – such as the Azores – is being damaged by the EU’s anti-competitive enviro taxes. EU ETS is levied on intra-European flights only, while more polluting long-haul flights to the US and Middle East are excluded. Rather than making European aviation more competitive (by reducing ETS), the EU has expanded ETS to cover remote regions like the Azores – while exempting non-EU competitors like Turkey and Morocco. Ryanair again calls on Ursula von der Leyen to ensure there is a level playing field on EU environmental taxes, by immediately bringing ETS rates into line with CORSIA.
Ryanair’s CCO Jason McGuinness said:
“We are disappointed that the French airport monopoly ANA continues to raise Portuguese airport fees to line its pockets, at the expense of Portuguese tourism and jobs – particularly on the Portuguese islands. As a direct result of these rising costs, we have been left with no alternative other than to cancel all Azores flights from 29 March 2026 onwards and relocate this capacity to lower cost airports elsewhere in the extensive Ryanair Group network across Europe.
This loss of low fare connectivity to the Azores is direct result of the French monopoly airport operator – VINCI – imposing excessive airport charges across Portugal (which have risen by up to 35% since Covid) and the anti-competitive enviro taxes imposed by the EU, which exempt more polluting long haul flights to the US and Middle East, at the expense of EU remote regions such as the Azores. After 10 years of year-round Ryanair operations, one of Europe’s most remote regions will now lose direct low-fare flights to London, Brussels, Lisbon, and Porto due to ANA’s high airport fees and Portuguese Govt. inaction.
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs, 20 Nov) welcomed the latest Spanish (Vigo) Court’s conviction of a disruptive passenger (he received an 8-month prison sentence & €10,000 fine) after he assaulted passengers onboard a Ryanair flight from London to Lisbon in December 2023. This unacceptable behaviour forced this flight to divert to Vigo, causing 6 crew and 179 other passengers (many of whom were travelling with young families) to suffer an unnecessary 2 hour delay in Vigo Airport.
Ryanair will not accept disruptive behaviour onboard our flights and we will continue to pursue and prosecute such disruptive passengers.
Ryanair’s Jade Kirwan said:
“It is unacceptable that a tiny number of disruptive passengers misbehave on our flights and upset or delay their fellow passengers. We welcome this Spanish Court’s conviction of this disruptive passenger who has received an 8-month sentence and a €10,000 fine as a result of his unacceptable behaviour onboard a London to Lisbon flight in Dec 2023.”
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs, 20 Nov) called on Ireland’s Taoiseach, Micheál “do nothing” Martin to fast-track legislation to scrap Dublin Airport’s unlawful 32m traffic cap, before the end of 2025, as he promised in his January “Programme for Govt”. With a 20 seat majority, voters should not have to wait 12 months for Micheál Martin to keep his Programme promise to scrap this cap. Dublin Airport confirmed they have exceeded this cap with 2 months of the year to go. This shows the urgent need for the Govt to scrap this illegal traffic cap at Ireland’s gateway airport and provide the long-term certainty that all airlines need to invest and grow Irish traffic, tourism, and jobs in time for Summer 2026.
Dublin traffic has only grown this year because the High Court suspended this illegal traffic cap in a case taken by Irish airlines, while the Irish Govt dithered and did nothing. This is not a permanent solution. The future of Ireland’s air access and tourism industry cannot be left to linger while Micheál Martin wanders around COP or wastes even more time at Templemore graduation ceremonies or launching his Govt’s 2nd housing strategy in just 4 years.
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:
“Ryanair calls on Micheál “do nothing” Martin to stop wasting time wandering around COP or Templemore, and instead pass urgent legislation to scrap Dublin Airport’s unlawful 32m traffic cap, before the end of 2025. With a 20 seat majority, voters should not have to wait 12 months for Ireland’s “do nothing” Taoiseach to use his 20 seat majority to scrap this cap, and allow Irish traffic, tourism, and jobs to grow in time for Summer 2026. Ireland needs action and leadership, not more dither and delay from Micheál “do nothing” Martin 11 months after his new, 20 seat majority Govt promised to scrap this cap. It’s time to act and stop these indefensible delays.”
REAFFIRMING RYANAIR’S ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY ON PASSENGER MISCONDUCT
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs, 13 Nov) welcomed the decision by the Dublin District Court to convict an unruly passenger who disrupted flight FR7122 from Dublin to Tenerife on 24 September 2022 by physically assaulting another passenger onboard. This disruptive passenger pleaded guilty and received a 3-month suspended sentence.
Ryanair is committed to ensuring that all passengers and crew travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment free of unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers. Ryanair has a strict zero tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and will continue to take action to combat unruly passenger behaviour on aircraft for the benefit of the vast majority of passengers who do not disrupt flights.
Ryanair’s Director of Communications, Jade Kirwan, said:
“We welcome the Dublin District Court’s conviction of this unruly passenger whose inexcusable behaviour disrupted a flight from Dublin to Tenerife in September 2022. This demonstrates just one of the many consequences (including travel bans and offload fines) that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair’s zero tolerance policy. We hope this conviction will further deter disruptive behaviour on flights so that both passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment.”
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Wed, 12 Nov) updated on the success of day one of its digital boarding pass (DBP) initiative. Up to 13:00hrs, over 700 flights have departed across Europe without any delay or disruption. Over 98% of passengers presented with their DBP and the other 2% – all of whom had checked in online before arriving at the airport – were issued free of charge boarding passes at airport ticket desks. Customer feedback was universally positive as passengers swiped their phones through airport security and boarding gates. No passengers were offloaded, and where one or two passengers had a problem with their phone, they were boarded without difficulty as the boarding gates had their details from their online check-in.
Ryanair CMO, Dara Brady, said:
“So far, day one of Ryanair’s DBP has been a huge success as over 700 flights and more than 100,000 passengers enjoyed the improved service and better experience of paper-free boarding at Ryanair airports. We estimate our DBP initiative will save up to €40M annually, and this will help us to lower ticket prices and make air travel more competitive for Ryanair’s customers.”