Budget airline Ryanair has been busy over the past few months axeing some of its flight routes around Europe in response to governments’ decisions to hike aviation taxes and charges.

Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, threatened to reduce the airline’s flights to and from France if the tax was increased.

At a press conference last week, Mr O’Leary said: “France is already a high-tax country and if it increases already high taxes further, we will probably reduce our capacity [to and from France].

The airline has made it clear it feels that air transport in Europe would be more efficient, and tourism and traffic would grow in some regions, if certain policies were abolished.

Publishing a “resolutions” manifesto on New Year’s Day, Ryanair said it is calling on governments to axe aviation taxes, reduce air traffic control (ATC) fees and try to staff ATC at full capacity in the first wave of morning departure, as well as scrapping traffic caps.

Mr O’Leary said that “2025 must be the year of competitiveness and growth across Europe.

He added: “Too many of Europe’s economies, such as France, Germany, and the UK, are stagnating under the dead hand of regulation, higher taxes and Govt mismanagement.

“It is time to return to deregulation and focus on those policies that deliver growth.”

Here is a rundown of the routes Ryanair has pulled so far.

Denmark

At the end of January, the budget carrier announced it would close its two-aircraft base at Billund airport, which it says would be a loss of a $200m (£158m) investment.

The airline added it would cut all routes to and from Aalborg, a city in northern Denmark by the end of March.

Ryanair said these decisions came as a result of the Danish government’s plans to introduce an aviation tax of up to DKK 50 (£5.58) per departing passenger from January 2025, as well as Billund’s failure to agree on a competitive long-term agreement.

A Ryanair spokesperson said: “We are very disappointed to announce the closure of our two-aircraft Billund base and our operations at Aalborg from the end of March, but we have been left with no other choice following the Danish Govt’s short-sighted decision to introduce a harmful aviation tax from Jan 2025.

“Unfortunately, this harmful aviation tax makes Denmark (especially regional Denmark) hopelessly uncompetitive compared to other EU countries, like Sweden, Hungary, and Italian regions, who are abolishing aviation taxes to stimulate traffic recovery and growth.

“As a result, Denmark’s connectivity, traffic, jobs, economic recovery, and growth will suffer irreparable damage – particularly in regional airports where they are reliant on efficient, low-cost air travel – as this capacity (1.7m seats, 32 routes, and 2 aircraft) is reallocated to lower cost airports elsewhere in the extensive Ryanair Group.”

Italy

Ryanair also announced in January that it plans to remove one of its Rome-based aircraft from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport that services the city.

The airline said this was due to the increase in airport costs and the government’s decision to increase a municipal surcharge at major Italian airports starting on 1 April 2025.

Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said: “Ryanair is once again calling on the Government to urgently remove the excessive flight cap at Ciampino from 65 to 130 daily flights, as well as reverse its short-sighted and regressive decision to increase passenger taxes at Italy’s major airports in 2025.”

Germany

In October last year, Ryanair said it would cut its German flight offering for summer 2025 by a further 12 per cent.

It cited the German government’s failure to reduce aviation tax, security and air traffic control fees as the reason.

It added that it would close bases at Dortmund, Dresden and Leipzig, as well as reduce its services in Hamburg by 60 per cent, eliminating a total of 22 routes for the summer.

Spain

Ryanair announced last month it would be scaling back its flights in Spain by around 800,000 seats this summer, citing “excessive fees” from airports.

The airline said it plans to cut around 12 routes after complaining about Spain’s airport operator Aena’s charges and lack of incentives for growth.

While the Spanish government decided to freeze airport charges for five years during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, Ryanair claims that Aena has attempted to increase charges every year, especially at Spanish regional airports.

The airline said it would cease operations at Jerez airport in southern Spain and Valladolid airport further north and remove one aircraft based in Santiago.

Ryanair is also planning to reduce its traffic by summer 2025 at five regional airports: Vigo by 61 per cent, Santiago at 28 per cent, Zaragoza at 20 per cent, Asturias at 11 per cent and Santander at five per cent.

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