Ryanair will cut capacity at Spanish regional airports by 18% during the summer period of 2025 due to “excessive” regional airport fees implemented by airport operator Aena, the airline confirmed.
Cuts will affect 12 routes across the airline’s Spanish network and will result in the loss of 800,000 seats, when compared to the pervious summer season.
In a statement the airline criticised Spanish airport operator Aena for “trying to increase fees every year” with emphasis on “sharply rising fees” at the country’s regional airports, where traffic has not yet returned to pre-COVID levels.
Ryanair has previously criticised airport fees levied by Aena, despite a freeze implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent decision by a Spanish competition regulator in December 2024 to block a planned increase for 2025.
Aena responded to the Irish airline’s compliant citing that its average fee of €10.35 ($10.66) per passenger, that airlines pay Aena, is “one of the lowest in Europe”.
The airport operator added: “Ryanair uses spurious arguments that do not correspond to the reality of airport charges in Spain, to confuse citizens and shamelessly put pressure on national and regional public institutions."
Ryanair will completely cease operations in Jerez and Valladolid, retire one Santiago-based aircraft while reducing traffic at five other regional airports - Vigo by 61%, Santiago by 28%, Zaragoza by 20%, Asturias by 11% and Santander by 5%.
These cuts to the Dublin-based carrier's Spanish capacity will result in the relocation of aircraft and capacity to countries such as Italy, Sweden, Croatia, Hungary and Morocco, where the airline notes governments are “actively incentivising growth”.
During 2024 alone Aena’s Spanish airports served a total of 309.3 million passengers, an increase of 9.2% in comparison to traffic figures from 2023.
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