With 800,000 Ryanair seats to Spanish destinations in jeopardy, the war-of-words between the so-called budget airline and Spain’s airport authority, Aena, continues. The authority has accused Ryanair of “blackmail” over its plan to cut seats due to what it considers excessive airport charges. Meanwhile the airline has said the authority needs to “get out of the Madrid bubble” and ask Spanish regions how it can help them grow and create jobs.
At a roundtable during the travel and tourism forum Hotusa Explora in Madrid, Maurici Lucena, CEO and Chairman of Aena, insisted that Spain’s airport management cannot be “made to measure for Ryanair.” Lucena also condemned Ryanair’s announcement in mid-January that the “lack of incentives” from Spain would result in the loss of 18% capacity, as the airline would instead deploy to airports in Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Sweden and countries where, Ryanair’s statement said, “governments encourage growth.”
It is very difficult not to interpret the airline’s communiqués of last week as blackmail in every sense of the word.
Mauricio Lucena, CEO and Chairman of Aena
Deterioration in Spanish competitivity or delayed in price rises elsewhere?
Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson, said the blackmail accusation “would be ridiculous if it were not so serious for Spanish regional economies”. In turn, he accused Aena of having the “mentality of a monopolistic operator that does not understand the deterioration of the competitiveness of Spanish airports compared to other regional airports in Europe”.
However, Olivier Jankovec, the Director General of airport trade association, ACI Europe, has pointed out that, “Many airports have yet to fully reflect inflationary pressures in their user charges.” This could mean that the supposedly good value airports where Ryanair wants to increase operations, could hike their prices in the near future – and see the airline turn on them too.
Potentially illegal business decisions disguised as Spanish issues
In an indication of the influence it believes it has, Ryanair, which carries more passengers to Spain than any other airline, submitted a growth plan to Transport Minister Óscar Puente on 17 January, it said, but lamented that it was “ignored.” Puente should now “demand a growth plan from Aena to attract airlines” or force the airport authority to give up control of the regional airports it is failing, it said.
ℹ️ Sobre el anuncio de Ryanair acerca de la operativa en los aeropuertos de España:
— Aena (@aena) January 16, 2025
👉 La tarifa media que las aerolíneas abonarán a Aena por los servicios aeroportuarios a partir del 1 de marzo de este año se mantendrá congelada en 10,35 € por pasajero y es una de las más… pic.twitter.com/5SrByJRn5c
Aena has defended itself, pointing out that its airports benefit from the “most competitive” charges in Europe and that some of its smallest airports have charges of around only 2 euros per passenger. In addition, the management body has noted that ironically, Ryanair is cutting flights at airports that do benefit from incentives, while maintaining routes at airports that have charges of the full €10.35 per passenger.
The cuts Ryanair wants to make, Lucena said, are effectively ruthless business decisions that are being disguised as problems with the Spanish system. Upping the ante further, he wondered whether the reasoning behind the reduction in flights could even be considered illegal under Spanish law. No doubt echoing the thoughts of many holidaymakers and Spanish tourism stakeholders, “It’s all rather unpleasant and regrettable,” he said.
