NO GROWTH AT ZAVENTEM DUE HIGH AIRPORT CHARGES

CALLS ON EU COMMISSION TO PRIORITISE COMPETITIVENESS

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Wed, 29 Jan) unveiled its Brussels Summer 2025 schedule with 132 routes, including 4 new Charleroi routes to Katowice, Nea Anchialos (Greece), Rome (Fiumicino), and Salerno, as well as extra frequencies on 40 other Charleroi routes like Dubrovnik, Faro, Marseille, Palma, Sarajevo, and Zadar.

Ryanair confirmed it will not grow again at Brussels Zaventem in 2025 due to the airport’s high charges, which have increased 20% since Covid and are due to rise again in 2025, making Brussels Zaventem hopelessly uncompetitive against airports across Europe who are lowering fees and charges to promote traffic growth.

Ryanair will, over the next decade, grow from 200m to 300m passengers p.a., but this growth must be facilitated by competitive reform from the EU Commission and national Govts for the benefit of EU citizens. Over the last decade, the EU has damaged the competitiveness of Airlines with penal aviation taxes, idiotic and expensive regulation and environmental measures which make air travel more expensive for customers, even as airlines invest $billions in new technology which dramatically reduces fuel consumption, CO2 and noise emissions. Ryanair called on the new Commission under Ursula von der Leyen to urgently address these issues as follows:

1. Reform Europe’s failed ATC system.
2. Modernise Europe’s outdated ownership and control rules.
3. Prevent national govts re-regulating air travel.
4. Scrap aviation taxes, which penalise EU citizens on short haul but exempt non-EU citizens on long haul routes.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“We are pleased to announce 4 new Ryanair routes from Charleroi this Summer. Charleroi continues to grow thanks to its competitive fees and efficient facilities. Meanwhile, Zaventem continues to stagnate and has failed to recover its pre-Covid traffic due to its expensive and rising fees, and its failure to compete for traffic recovery or growth.

We also call on the new Commission under Ursula von der Leyen to take urgent action to reform the competitiveness of EU aviation. As the Draghi Report recently highlighted, EU ATC is an abject failure. Airlines and passengers repeatedly suffer delays and cancellations because of routine short staffing by ATC providers, and the gross inefficiency of these protected govt monopolies. 90% of all flight delays would be eliminated if these ATC providers were obliged by law to fully staff the first wave of daily flights, and to protect over flights during national ATC strikes. Europe should also respond to the new challenges of the Trump Administration by abolishing aviation taxes, making air travel across Europe more competitive and affordable for citizens. This would help EU integration, and would stimulate air travel, tourism and economic growth in the peripheral states and regions of the European Union.

The Draghi Report highlighted the urgent need for ATC reform, yet the Commission has spent 20 years failing to deliver this reform, and it is time for change.

Europe is struggling to deliver growth. Aviation and tourism can lead the revival of growth on the Continent of Europe, but only when these damaging aviation taxes, incompetent ATC service, and our outdated ownership and control rules are modernised and reformed. Ryanair looks forward to leading this growth recovery in Europe, and we will continue to work with those countries and airports across Europe who are incentivising growth, rather than those countries, like the UK and Germany, where aviation taxes and fees are rising and traffic is stagnating.”