Ryanair has announced that it will cancel all flights to and from Azores islands due to “high airport fees” and “inaction” from the Portuguese government.
From March 29, 2026, the low-cost carrier will cancel six routes to the Azores, which will lead to a loss of 400,000 passengers per year for the Portuguese archipelago.
In a statement, Ryanair said the fees charged by Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA), which is owned by France’s Vinci Concessions, have made the routes financially unviable.
“The ANA monopoly faces no competition in Portugal – which has allowed it to extract monopoly profits, by raising Portuguese airport fees without penalty – at a time when competing EU airports are lowering fees to stimulate growth,” it said.
“Sadly, the ANA monopoly has no plan to grow low-fare connectivity to the Azores.”
Ryanair called on the Portuguese government to intervene in order to ensure that its airports are used to “benefit the Portuguese people” rather than the ANA.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ANA has raised its airport charges in the Azores by up to 35%.
In addition, Ryanair objected to the EU’s “anti-competitive” Emissions Trading System (ETS), which it says is disproportionately harming remote regions such as the Azores.
“EU ETS is levied on intra-European flights only, while more polluting long-haul flights to the US and Middle East are excluded,” it said.
“Rather than making European aviation more competitive by reducing ETS, the EU has expanded ETS to cover remote regions like the Azores – while exempting non-EU competitors like Turkey and Morocco.”
Ryanair’s exit from the Azores will free up additional capacity that will be relocated to lower-cost airports, the company said.