CALLS ON RACHEL REEVES TO SCRAP APD IF SHE WANTS GROWTH

Ryanair, the UK’s No.1 low fares airline, today (Wed, 29 Jan) announced its London Summer 2025 schedule with 206 routes, including 7 new routes from Stansted to Bodrum, Clermont-Ferrand, Dalaman, Münster, Lübeck, Linz & Reggio Calabria, as well as extra frequencies on 30 other London routes to Gdansk, Ibiza, Malaga, Milan, Rome, Turin, and Valencia. To support this traffic growth, Ryanair will base 1 new B737 in London Stansted for S25 – an additional $100m investment in London – bringing Ryanair’s total London-based fleet to 56 aircraft (an investment of $5.6bn) and creating 30 new highly paid jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers.

While Ryanair continues to grow traffic and tourism in London, regional UK connectivity and tourism is suffering under the new Labour Govt, which while “claiming” to champion growth, have bizarrely increased APD taxes on short-haul flights by £2 per passenger from 2026, which damages growth and makes the UK uncompetitive. This APD tax hike further penalises ordinary UK families travelling abroad on holidays and deters millions of potential visitors to the UK, who will travel instead to countries like Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, who are abolishing aviation taxes or are reducing airport fees to stimulate growth. The anti-growth increase in UK APD is damaging tourism and economic growth in the UK regions, and Ryanair calls on Rachel Reeves to immediately abolish this stupid APD tax, which will deliver immediate and dramatic growth across the regions.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“We are pleased to announce 7 new Summer 2025 routes from London to Bodrum, Clermont-Ferrand, Dalaman, Münster, Lübeck, Linz, and Reggio Calabria. We are also launching extra frequencies on 30 other London routes to exciting destinations like Gdansk, Ibiza, Malaga, and Rome.

Ryanair could be growing more rapidly to/from the UK, but Rachel Reeves bizarre decision to raise APD taxes by £2 per passenger damages the growth prospects of the UK, and in particular regional UK airports. Rachel Reeves is trying to distract people by floating a 3^rd runway at Heathrow (or a 2^nd at Gatwick), which even if approved, won’t arrive for 10 or 20 years, long after the life of this Labour Govt. If she is serious about delivering growth, then she should abolish the penal and damaging APD tax, which makes the UK uncompetitive when EU countries like Sweden, Hungary, Ireland, and regions in Italy are abolishing aviation taxes, and winning dramatic traffic, tourism, and jobs growth from the UK.

If Rachel Reeves is serious about growth, then stop wasting time talking about a 3^rd runway at Heathrow (which won’t deliver till 2030 or 2040), and instead do something useful to drive growth during the life of the current Labour Govt and abolish APD. This would deliver dramatic investment and growth in air travel, tourism, and economic activity, not just in London but across the UK regions. Sadly to date, the Labour Govt has raised taxes while it rewarded train drivers and junior doctors, but damages economic activity and growth with this APD tax hike.”