Ryanair, Spain’s No.1 airline, today (Wed, 8 Oct) announced that it will reduce its Summer 2026 schedule to Regional Spain by 1.2m seats (-10%). Ryanair will also stop all flights to/from Asturias Airport, as the Aena Monopoly continues to raise its uncompetitive airport fees at Spanish (mostly empty) regional airports. These regrettable cuts follow Ryanair’s 1m seat cuts to Regional Spain for Winter 2025, and are a direct result of the Spanish Govt’s failure to stop Aena’s monopoly fee increases, particularly at under-used Regional airports, and its failure to reverse Minister Bustinduy’s illegal bag fines, despite promising to do so. While Minister Bustinduy continues to illegally interfere in the pricing of low-fare airlines (in breach of EU law), he refuses to take any action against overcharging by a number of Spanish OTAs (online travel agencies) who continue to overcharge and harm unsuspecting Spanish consumers.

The Spanish Govt is the majority shareholder in the Aena Airport Monopoly and has appointed an ex-politician (Maurici Lucena) to run it. Despite this control, the Aena Monopoly continues to raise fees at Spain Regional Airports, making them uncompetitive and harming growth. Aena’s monopoly approach to pricing is that small underused Regional airports should charge similar rates as busy main airports like Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and Malaga. As a result, Ryanair is switching seat capacity to these bigger Spanish airports (where passenger demand and air fares are higher). When faced with high fees at Regional airports, Ryanair has moved to lower cost airports elsewhere in Morocco, Italy, Croatia, Albania, and Sweden, where Govts are abolishing Enviro Taxes and lowering Airport fees.

Ryanair submitted two growth plans — including for some of the airports we are now closing — to Aena and the Spanish Government. These plans would have increased traffic by 40% by 2030, reaching 77 million passengers per year. However, the Spanish Government chose to ignore the proposals, raise airport charges, and sacrifice potential growth and job creation.

Regional Spain can grow, but it needs a Govt committed to stimulating growth by lowering the cost of air travel to/from the Regions of Spain, and a Consumer Minister who actually protects consumers by ending OTA overcharging, while respecting both EU law, and precedent ECJ Court Rulings (the Vueling Case 2014), which clearly prevent national Govts from interfering in the way airlines price seats, or carry-on bags.

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary, said:

“AENA and its major shareholder, the Spanish Govt, continue to harm regional traffic growth, tourism and jobs in Spain through high airport fees and unjustified price increases. AENA should be lowering airport fees at underused Regional airports, but instead they plan to increase them by 7%, the highest fee increase for over a decade. The Spanish Govt has failed to stimulate Regional tourism and jobs, as it continues to protect the Aena Monopoly’s high fee operations. We regret that these fee increases make Regional Spanish airports uncompetitive, and this is why Ryanair is switching 1.2m more seats away from Regional airports in Spain in S2026, to some of Spain’s bigger airports, but mainly to lower-cost competitor airports in Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Sweden, and Hungary.

Furthermore, despite Govt promises to reverse Minister Bustinduy’s illegal bag fines, Prime Minister Sanchez has taken no action for 2 years now. Bustinduy’s bag fines are clearly illegal, as they are in breach of EU Regulation on airline pricing freedom, and they are in breach of the ECJ Ruling the Vueling case, which established that airlines are free to charge for carry-on bags, as long as every passenger is allowed to bring a small bag “Maleta Gratis” for their personal items. While Minister Bustinduy pursues his illegal bag fines, he has taken zero action against real consumer harm, such as the overcharging of Spain’s consumers by a number OTAs. Ryanair has written 8 letters to Minister Bustinduy between April 2024 and October 2025, calling on him to take action, but he continues to stand idly by as consumers are being overcharged by OTAs. Minister Bustinduy is not just incompetent, but his bag fines are in clear breach of EU law and ECJ Rulings. If Prime Minister Sanchez has any respect for EU law, then he should dismiss Bustinduy, and cancel these illegal bag fines.

Ryanair remains one of Spain’s biggest overseas investors, and we continue to invest heavily in Spain, with 2 new Maintenance Facilities in Madrid and Seville. We will shortly open our new Airline Training Centre in Madrid. While we wish to continue to grow air traffic and connectivity to Regional Spain, we are prevented from doing so by the Aena’s Monopoly high airport fees and the failure of Prime Minister Sanchez and his Govt, to restrain this overcharging Airport Monopoly, which they own and control. We look forward to returning to Growth in Regional Spain, when Aena fees are reduced, making them competitive with lower-cost airports elsewhere in Morocco, Italy, Croatia, Hungary and other EU States, who are abolishing Aviation Taxes and lowering airport fees to grow their traffic and tourism industries.”

Ryanair today (Tue, 7 Oct) released its Oct OTA Survey, which again exposes OTAs, such as eDreams, Tix & Vola, for overcharging customers up to 176% over Ryanair’s prices. These OTAs, do not have distribution agreements with Ryanair, because they wish to continue overcharging consumers. eDreams is the worst offender, selling a reserved seat that costs just €5.67 on Ryanair.com for €15.67 – almost 3 times the Ryanair price. eDreams is overcharging its unsuspecting customers €27.07 for a 10kg bag which costs just €12.99 on Ryanair, an overcharge of more than double Ryanair’s price. 

Ryanair continues to campaign to protect EU consumers from harmful practices used by OTAs such as eDreams, Tix & Vola. Ryanair urges EU Govts and Consumer Protection Agencies to finally take action, and insist on mandatory price transparency from all OTAs, in line with the transparent pricing being delivered by all Ryanair’s “Approved OTA” partners. Despite repeated warnings, many of Europe’s Consumer Agencies and Govts continue to ignore the consumer harm caused by these overcharging OTAs. It is extraordinary that eDreams – a Spanish OTA – continues to overcharge its unsuspecting Spanish consumers while Spain’s useless Consumer Minister, Pablo Bustinduy fails to take any action to defend or protect his own citizens from overcharging.

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said:

“Ryanair’s October OTA survey shows that eDreams, Tix & Vola continue to harm unsuspecting consumers with overcharges of almost 3 times the prices on Ryanair’s website. Despite this evidence of consumer harm, many EU Govts and Consumer Protection Authorities, most notably Spain’s useless Consumer Minister Bustinduy, do nothing to prevent this harm to thousands of Spanish consumers as a result of this overcharging.

Despite this clear overcharging evidence, EU Govts and Consumer Protection Authorities including Spain’s useless Consumer Minister have taken zero action to prevent this overcharging, which continues to harm consumers across Spain and the EU. Ryanair calls on EU Govts and Consumer Protection Agencies to take action to address these OTA overcharges, which are imposing avoidable additional costs for consumers across Europe, and particularly in Spain where eDreams has a large presence.”

2,300 EXTRA SEATS FOR CHRISTMAS 2025 PROVIDING MORE LOW-FARE CHOICE & INBOUND TOURISM FOR CORNWALL

Ryanair, the UK’s No. 1 passenger airline, today (Mon, 6 Oct) announced its Winter 2025 schedule for Cornwall Airport Newquay, with 4 routes including top winter sun destinations – Alicante & Malaga, as well as key city connections – Dublin & London. Ryanair has also added 2,300 extra seats across its Alicante, Malaga, and Dublin routes for Christmas week, ensuring plenty of capacity for those travelling home to see family and friends or looking to enjoy their Christmas dinner with a view of the Mediterranean Sea.

Ryanair’s bumper Winter 2025 schedule will deliver +10% traffic to/from Cornwall this Winter, providing customers on the North coast with unbeatable choice and regular connections at the lowest fares in Europe, while driving invaluable inbound tourism at the same time.

Ryanair’s full Winter 2025 schedule is available to book now at Ryanair.com, with flights to/from Cornwall Airport Newquay available from as little as £29.99.

Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:

“I am pleased to be here today at Cornwall Airport Newquay to launch Ryanair’s Winter 2025 schedule, with 4 routes to Alicante, Dublin, London, and Malaga, offering a selection of both Winter sun destinations as well as key city connections. We’ve also added extra capacity for Christmas week, ensuring plenty of low-fare choice for our Cornwall customers, as well as driving traffic and tourism to Cornwall during the off-peak Winter season.

We wish to continue to deliver traffic and tourism growth at Newquay and across our 22 UK airports. To do this however, the UK market must become competitive. Rachel Reeves should stop talking about growth and start delivering it by abolishing APD. In countries all over Europe, like Sweden, Hungary, Albania, and Regional Italy, Govts are abolishing aviation taxes and are being rewarded with rapid traffic, tourism, and jobs growth. This is the model that Rachel Reeves should copy. She has failed to deliver any growth in the first 12 months of the new Labour Govt, but she can reverse this failure, by scrapping APD to make UK air travel competitive once more, particularly for the UK regions like Cornwall.

Ryanair’s full Winter 2025 schedule is available to book now at Ryanair.com, with flights to/from Cornwall Airport Newquay available from just £29.99.”

Managing Director at Cornwall Airport Newquay, Amy Smith, said:

“Ryanair’s commitment to Cornwall Airport Newquay is fantastic news for the region. The extra capacity of 2,300 additional seats over Christmas – strengthens our year-round connectivity, supports local jobs and inbound tourism, and builds momentum in the seasons ahead.

This sustained confidence strengthens our network today and lays the groundwork for future route development and new markets that will benefit residents, businesses and visitors alike.”

Ryanair, the UK’s No.1 low fares airline, today (Mon, 6 Oct) called on Transport Minister, Heidi Alexander, to sack NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, after over 18,500 passengers travelling to/from London on Sun 5 Oct were made to suffer avoidable ATC delays of up to 77mins due to repeated NATS mismanagement and staff shortages.

Ryanair’s Director of Comms, Jade Kirwan, said:

“It is unacceptable that passengers travelling to/from the UK are made time and time again to suffer avoidable ATC delays as a result of NATS mismanagement and staff shortages. This was again the case on Sunday (5 Oct), when over 100 Ryanair flights and over 18,500 Ryanair passengers suffered ATC delays of up to 77 mins, while NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, sat on his hands doing nothing. This is completely unfair and must be fixed. It is high time that Heidi Alexander sack Martin Rolfe for the benefit of UK passenger, who should be able to travel to/from the UK without suffering avoidable ATC delays due to repeated NATS mismanagement and staff shortages.”

ATC CAPACITY SLASHED 50%, DELAYING THOUSANDS OF PASSENGERS

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Fri, 3 Oct) called on EU President, Ursula von “Derlayed-Again”, to urgently reform Europe’s broken ATC system and protect of overflights. This comes as thousands of EU passengers – the vast majority of whom are travelling on overflights – are expected to suffer avoidable flight delays/cancellations due to the Slovenian ATC strike on 6-7 Oct. This is because Slovenia’s minimum service laws do not protect overflights during national ATC strikes, as they do in Italy, Spain, and Greece. As a result, thousands of EU passengers, who are not flying to/from Slovenia but simply overflying Slovenian airspace en route to their destination (e.g., Warsaw to Rome or Athens to Frankfurt, etc. – not Slovenia), will be forced to suffer avoidable delays/cancellations due to national strike that has nothing to do with them.

This is grossly unfair, yet Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” sits in Brussels doing nothing to protect EU passengers or the Single market for air travel. Ryanair is now calling on EU passengers to visit the ‘Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight’ webpage and demand that Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” take urgent action to reform the EU’s broken ATC by (1) mandating that national ATC services are fully staffed for the first wave of morning flights or face fines, and (2) protecting overflights (and the Single Market) during national ATC strikes.

Ryanair’s Director of Communications, Jade Kirwan, said:

“It is completely unacceptable that EU passengers not even flying to/from Slovenia but overflying Slovenian airspace en route to their destination (e.g., Warsaw to Rome) are being forced to suffer avoidable flight  delays/cancellations as a result of a Slovenian ATC strike, which has nothing to do with them. This is because Slovenia does not protect overflights during national ATC strikes, like they do in Italy, Spain, and Greece.

Europe’s airlines are united in calling for 2 effective ATC reforms; (1) mandate that national ATC services are fully staffed for the first wave of morning flights or face fines, and (2) protect overflights (and the Single Market) during national ATC strikes. Ryanair calls on Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” to take urgent action to implement these two simple reforms, or step aside and let someone competent do her job.”

OVER 30M PASSENGERS DELAYED BY ATC MISMANAGEMENT & STAFF SHORTAGES IN 2025

RYANAIR CALLS ON URSULA VON “DERLAYED-AGAIN” TO REFORM EU’S BROKEN ATC OR QUIT!

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Fri, 3 Oct) called on EU President, Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” to urgently reform the EU’s broken ATC services or quit. This comes as Ryanair released its September “ATC Delays League”, showing that France, Spain, Germany, the UK, and Greece are the worst ATCs for delays/cancellations because their Govts refuse to ensure their ATC services are properly staffed and managed.

There is no excuse for these worst ATC delays when Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark are delivering efficient ATC services (without mismanagement or staff shortages) and are responsible for the fewest ATC delays/cancellations in Europe this year as a result.

Ryanair has long called for EU ATC reform, but Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” ignores these repeated ATC delays/cancellations, which have disrupted over 30m EU passengers so far this year. Ryanair is now calling on EU passengers to visit the ‘Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight’ webpage and demand that Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” take urgent action to reform the EU’s broken ATC by (1) mandating that national ATC services are fully staffed for the first wave of morning flights or face fines, and (2) protecting overflights (and the Single Market) during national ATC strikes.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“It is inexcusable that Europe’s worst performing ATCs in France, Spain, Germany, the UK, and Greece continue to inflict so many avoidable flight delays/cancellations on millions of Ryanair passengers. EU airlines have already offered the solution to these avoidable ATC delays/cancellations; (1) mandate that national ATC services are fully staffed for the first wave of morning flights or face fines, and (2) the EU Comm must act to protect overflights during national ATC strikes. Yet, EU President Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” sits in Brussels doing nothing to protect EU passengers or the Single Market for air travel.

EU ATC needs reform. If Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” won’t deliver it, then she should step aside and let someone competent do her job.”

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs, 2 Oct) called on the Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” to urgently reform the EU’s broken ATC system, after today’s ATC equipment failure at Belgium’s ATC Centre caused avoidable delays to flights to/from Belgium, including the delay of 139 Ryanair flights and over 25,000 Ryanair passengers.

Ryanair has long called for EU ATC reform, but Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” ignores these repeated ATC delays/cancellations, which have disrupted over 30m EU passengers so far this year. Ryanair is now calling on EU passengers to visit the ‘Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight’ webpage and demand that Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” take urgent action to reform the EU’s broken ATC.

Ryanair’s Director of Comms, Jade Kirwan, said:

“It is unacceptable that passengers continue to suffer ATC delays/cancellations as a result of repeated ATC mismanagement across Europe, this time in the form of an equipment failure Belgium’s ATC Centre, which delayed 139 Ryanair flights and over 25,000 Ryanair passengers. Yet, EU President Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” sits in Brussels doing nothing to protect EU passengers. Ryanair calls on all passenger to visit the ‘Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight’ webpage and demand that Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” take urgent action to reform the EU’s broken ATC.”