ORDERS FULL REPAYMENT OF €4.2m FINE PLUS INTEREST TO RYANAIR

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Wed 13 May) called on Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to urgently reform the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) to address the perception of bias following today’s ruling by the Italian Council of State which exposed discriminatory and unlawful conduct by the AGCM towards Ryanair.

Italy’s Council of State, today issued a final and binding judgment annulling the €4.2m AGCM fine imposed on Ryanair in 2021 in relation to Covid flight cancellations. Crucially, the Court found that the AGCM had discriminated against Ryanair by rejecting its proposed commitments without dialogue, while accepting similar commitments from other airlines, including Alitalia, Vueling and Blue Panorama. The Council of State held that the AGCM’s conduct breached core principles of administrative and competition law, stating that the AGCM’s discretion had been exercised “in a manner inconsistent with the principles of coherence, reasonableness and non‑discrimination”.

These findings are deeply damaging to the AGCM’s reputation, and provide a damning context to the AGCM’s bizarre €256m fine imposed on Ryanair, for its direct distribution policy, which ignored the precedent ruling of the Milan Court of Appeal in Jan 2024. In that judgment, the Milan Court of Appeal confirmed that Ryanair’s direct distribution model:

• “undoubtedly benefit[s] consumers” by leading to lower fares
• is “economically justified in terms of containing operating costs, and eliminating the costs associated with intermediation in ticket sales”
• “contribute[s] to…a direct channel of communication…for any possible need for information and updates on flights”.

The Council of State’s ruling that the AGCM discriminated against Ryanair, raises serious questions about whether the AGCM staff can be trusted or relied upon to act objectively, consistently and in accordance with judicial precedent, particularly where Ryanair is concerned.

Ryanair has appealed the legally flawed €256m AGCM ruling and is confident that, as in the above Covid cancellation case, the Italian courts will again uphold the rule of law, and overturn another unsound and flawed AGCM fine in a case involving Ryanair.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Today’s binding ruling by the Council of State raises serious questions about the AGCM’s impartiality and its treatment of Ryanair. The Court ruled that the AGCM discriminated against Ryanair by applying different standards than it did to other airlines in equivalent cases, which is in clear breach of the basic principles of justice.

These findings are deeply damaging to the AGCM’s reputation, and give clear context to the AGCM’s bizarre Dec 2025 €256m fine (for our direct distribution policy), which contradicts the clear precedent ruling of the Milan Court of Appeal in January 2024, where Ryanair’s direct distribution model was found to ‘undoubtedly benefit consumers’ and deliver competitive fares. Ryanair has appealed this legally flawed AGCM fine and is confident that, once again, the Italian courts will uphold the rule of law, respect judicial precedent, and overturn another unlawful AGCM ruling. We call on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to urgently reform the AGCM to ensure it acts fairly and in the best interest of consumers, rather than unfairly targeting Ryanair with baseless claims and unlawful fines.”

700,000 SEATS CUT, 12 ROUTES LOST AND 2 AIRPORTS CLOSED DUE TO FRAPORT GREECE AND ATHENS AIRPORT’S REFUSAL TO PASS THROUGH ADF CUT

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (Fri, 8 May) announced the closure of its three aircraft Thessaloniki base and reductions in capacity at Athens Airport for Winter ‘26, resulting in the loss of 700,000 seats (-45%) and 12 routes for the upcoming Winter ’26 season. This devastating loss in off-peak winter connectivity is the direct result of the hopelessly uncompetitive costs charged at the German-run Fraport Greece monopoly and Athens Airport.

The Greek Govt. made the wise decision to reduce the Airport Development Fee (ADF) by 75% (from €12 to €3 per passenger) from November’24, which should have directly stimulated year-round connectivity and tourism across Greece. However, most Greek airports, particularly those run by Fraport Greece, refused to pass the tax cut onto passengers and instead have pocketed the tax cut for themselves. Since then, Fraport Greece have continued to increase charges, which are now +66% above their pre-Covid levels. Likewise, Athens Airport will hike charges this Winter.

Consequently, Greek airports are no longer competitive in the off-peak shoulder and Winter months, when the tourism industry’s reliance on low-fare connectivity is most acute. Ryanair has therefore been left with no choice but to reallocate capacity to more competitive countries like Albania, regional Italy, and Sweden where airports have passed on the savings from Govt. tax reductions. Ryanair’s reduced Winter ‘26 schedule for Greece will result in:

• -3 based aircraft at Thessaloniki (-US$300m investment)
• -700,000 seats (-45% versus Winter ‘25)
• -12 routes (Thessaloniki to Berlin, Chania, Frankfurt-H, Gothenburg, Heraklion, Niederrhein, Poznan, Stockholm, Venice-T, Zagreb, and Athens to Milan-M, and Chania to Paphos)
• -2 airports closed (Chania and Heraklion)

Ryanair presented an ambitious growth plan to the Greek Govt. to grow traffic to 12m passengers per annum (+70%), base 10 additional aircraft (+US1bn incremental investment) and launch 50 new routes over the next 5 years. However, this growth can only be delivered if airport charges are frozen and the 75% Airport Development Fee reduction is passed on to passengers at all airports. Regrettably, Greece will continue to miss out on investment opportunities, tourism and traffic development until Fraport Greece and Athens abandon their shameless practice of pocketing this tax cut.

Ryanair Chief Commercial Officer, Jason McGuinness said:

“Ryanair regrets to announce the closure of our Thessaloniki base and reductions in Athens for Winter ‘26, resulting in the loss of 700,000 seats and 12 routes across Greece, as well as the suspension of operations at Chania and Heraklion during the off-peak months. These preventable traffic reductions are a direct result of the airports’ failure to pass through the ADF reduction, particularly in Thessaloniki where the Fraport Greece monopoly have hiked airport charges +66% since 2019.

The removal of 3 based aircraft, 500,000 seats (-60% vs. Winter ‘25) and 10 routes from Thessaloniki for Winter ‘26 will be devastating for the city and region, as Ryanair provided 90% of international capacity to Thessaloniki last Winter. Unfortunately, there will now be less low-cost air fares for Thessaloniki’s citizens and visitors, and year-round tourism will be harmed as a result. These aircraft will be reallocated to Albania, regional Italy and Sweden, where airports have passed on their Govt’s aviation tax savings – resulting in more connectivity, tourism and jobs this Winter in those regions.

There is an opportunity for Greece to secure significant year-round traffic growth however, this investment can only be realised once the German-run Fraport Greece monopoly fully passes through the Greek Govt.’s sensible tax cut from November’24 – allowing airlines such as Ryanair, to deliver the connectivity required to reduce Greece’s chronic seasonality.”

REAFFIRMING RYANAIR’S ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY ON PASSENGER MISCONDUCT

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Fri, 8 May) welcomed the decision by the District Court in Warsaw-Modlin to convict an unruly passenger who disrupted flight FR2746 from London Stansted to Kaunas on 24 July 2024, forcing over 180 passengers and 6 crew to divert to Warsaw-Modlin after this passenger failed to comply with crew instructions and became abusive. This disruptive passenger was found guilty and received a PLN 17,000 penalty.

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 Jade Kirwan said:

“We welcome the decision of the District Court in Warsaw‑Modlin to convict this disruptive passenger and impose a PLN 17,000 penalty. This ruling clearly confirms that such behaviour is unacceptable – it exposes passengers and crew to stress and disruption, while also generating significant operational costs for the airline. A clear example of this was the flight from London to Kaunas, which was forced to divert to Warsaw-Modlin, requiring the intervention of police and border guard services.

This conviction sends a clear signal that breaches of onboard conduct will be consistently enforced under Ryanair’s zero tolerance policy for aggressive passengers. We believe this will effectively limit similar incidents in the future and support the safety and comfort of travel for both passengers and crew.”

REAFFIRMING RYANAIR’S ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY ON PASSENGER MISCONDUCT

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs, 7 May) welcomed the decision by the Toulouse Criminal Court to convict two unruly passengers who disrupted flight FR9251 from London Stansted to Ibiza on 17 May 2025, forcing over 184 passengers and 6 crew to divert to Toulouse after these two passengers became abusive towards fellow passengers and failed to comply with crew instructions. These disruptive passengers were found guilty and both received suspended sentences up to 10 months, and received a combined penalty of over €10,000.

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 Jade Kirwan, said:

“We welcome this decision by the Toulouse Criminal Court to convict these two disruptive passengers and sentence them with up to 10 months jail time and to pay a penalty of over €10,000.

It is unacceptable that passengers – many of whom are heading away with family or friends to enjoy a relaxing summer holiday – suffer unnecessary disruption and reduced holiday time as a result of unruly passenger behaviour. Yet this was regrettably the case for passengers on this flight from Stansted to Ibiza in May last year, which was forced to divert to Toulouse as a result of two passenger’s disruptive behaviour.

This conviction demonstrates just one of the many consequences that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair’s zero tolerance policy, and we hope this action will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights so that passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and respectful environment.”

TO 19.3M GUESTS

Ryanair today (Tues, 5 May) released its Apr 2026 traffic stats as follows:

BERLIN TRAFFIC COLLAPSES 27% SINCE COVID AS COSTS RISE 50% WITH ANOTHER 10% RISE FROM 2027

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, today (Fri 24 April) announced that it intends to close its 7 a/c Berlin base on 24 Oct ’26, reducing the number of flights it operates to/from Berlin by 50% in its winter schedule. All 7 Berlin based aircraft will in this case be reallocated to lower cost airports in other EU states that have abolished aviation taxes like Sweden, Slovakia, Albania & Italy. This is a direct result of Berlin Airport’s recent notice that it will again raise fees by another 10% from 2027 to 2029 when its already high airport fees have increased by 50% since Covid even as Berlin’s traffic collapsed by 30% from 36m in 2019 to 26m in 2025. German aviation policy has failed its citizens as it relies on high aviation taxes and excessive airport costs to combat hopeless inefficiency, evidenced by the fact that since 2019:

• Germany’s harmful aviation tax has more than doubled from €7.30 to €15.50 per passenger.
• German security fees have doubled from €10 in 2024 to €20 per pax by Jan 2028.
• German ATC fees have trebled from €1 to €3.30 per passenger.
• Airport fees have sky-rocketed – especially at Berlin where published airport charges have increased by 50% since Covid, with a further 10% increase due by 2029.

Thanks to Berlin Airport’s unjustified and excessive fee increases of 50% since 2019, its air traffic has collapsed by almost 30% from 36m pax in 2019 to just 26m in 2025, leaving Berlin the most failing airport in Europe. Instead of introducing lower cost traffic recovery incentives for airlines to recover this traffic collapse, Berlin Airport has decided to further increase its already high prices by another 10% making Berlin hopelessly uncompetitive versus competitor European airports who are cutting fees to grow, and where Govt’s are abolishing travel taxes.

Because of Berlin’s high costs and its latest fee increase notice, regrettably all Ryanair Berlin based pilots and cabin crew received notification today of the intended base closure from 24 Oct ’26. Staff consultations will begin shortly. All flight crew can secure alternative positions elsewhere in the Ryanair network across Europe since Ryanair will accelerate growth (in jobs and traffic) by switching these 7 Berlin a/c to lower cost airports in zero aviation tax countries elsewhere in Europe.

Ryanair DAC CEO Eddie Wilson said:

“We regret to announce this planned closure of our 7 aircraft Berlin base from 24 Oct 2026, but we have no alternative following the Airport’s latest 10% fee increase to its already high airport fees. This comes on top of the 50% increase in Berlin’s airport fees since 2019. Despite Berlin Airport losing 30% of its pre-Covid traffic thanks to its excessive airport charges, and Germany’s stupid aviation tax regime, they have now decided to increase charges by a further 10% which will result in the loss of more than 2m Ryanair seats p.a. and 7 based aircraft. Ryanair will still serve Berlin but on a/c based outside Germany and our Berlin traffic will fall by 50% from 4.5m to 2.2m pax in 2027.

German aviation is broken. The Govt. admits that it is uncompetitive, yet there is no strategy to cut aviation taxes or high airport fees – despite Ryanair warning that Germany would lose traffic, connectivity, jobs and trade. Since 2019, Ryanair has been forced to close its bases in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Stuttgart (resulting in the loss of 13 based aircraft) in addition to stopping all flights to Dresden, Leipzig and Dortmund.  Today Ryanair announces the planned closure of our 7 aircraft base in Berlin with further cuts across Germany now inevitable. These cuts in high tax, high cost Germany come at a time when Ryanair is growing traffic across Europe by almost 70m passengers p.a. (from 149m in 2019 to 216m in 2026) since Covid, but our Berlin traffic will now collapse by at least 50% in 2027 as a result of Germany’s harmful aviation tax and Berlin airport’s high and rising fees.

Efficient operations and competitive airport fees are the foundation which enable Ryanair to deliver long-term traffic growth and increased connectivity for airports and regions. This is impossible at Berlin following the German Govt’s failure to abolish its harmful aviation tax and Berlin Airport’s decision to again increase its already high airport fees. Ryanair has many other lower cost airports, and zero aviation tax countries across Europe competing for scarce capacity growth, all of whom are taking action to reduce access costs by abolishing aviation taxes, lowering airport charges and reducing ATC fees. With no meaningful cost reform in Berlin or in Germany nationally, we have no alternative but to switch aircraft from Germany to other more competitive markets elsewhere in Europe while Germany and Berlin Airport continue to fail.”

CALLS ON GERMANY TO RECOVER €200M COVID BAILOUT BENEFITS FROM LUFTHANSA

Ryanair today (Thurs, 23 Apr) welcomed the final CJEU ruling which again confirms that the €6 billion State Aid bailout received by Lufthansa during the Covid-19 pandemic from the German state was illegal.

Lufthansa has so far avoided repaying the approx. €200m benefits it received from its latest German Govt bailout, including interest for the years when this illegal support was in place. The European Commission should have forced Germany to recover these €200m benefits in 2023 when the General Court first ruled this Lufthansa aid was illegal but as usual the Commission and the German Govt has failed to do so despite Ryanair’s repeated requests.  

Ryanair’s spokesperson said:

“Today’s CJEU judgment again confirms what was obvious from the start: Germany’s €6 billion Covid bailout of Lufthansa was illegal State Aid that distorted competition. While efficient airlines (like Ryanair and others) were forced to survive through Covid on their own resources, Lufthansa was handed a €6 billion benefit by the German Govt which once again rewarded German inefficiency, damaged competition and hurt consumers. 

The German air transport market continues to fail to recover its pre-Covid traffic due to a combination of high access costs, penal Govt taxes and an uneven playing field in which non-subsidised airlines are asked to compete with the heavily state subsidised Lufthansa. 

It is time for the European Commission and Germany stop stonewalling and start complying with their EU law obligations and recover the €200m benefits of this illegal State Aid directly from Lufthansa without further delay.”