Ryanair cuts 1 million seats to Spain over winter season

On Wednesday, 3 September, Ryanair announced it will be cutting 1 million seats to Spain over the winter 2025 season. The news comes as airport operator Aena announced Ain increase in airport charges starting from 2026.

Earlier in 2025, Ryanair had already announced it was scrapping 800.000 seats to Spain following what the airline called “excessive airport fees”, and now the low-cost carrier is planning to scrap another 1 million over the winter season. The reason for that decision is a 6.62% increase in airport charges starting in 2026 imposed by airport operator Aena. 

Ryanair will be reducing its capacity at Spanish regional airports by 600,000 seats (41%) and by 400,000 seats in the Canary Islands (10%) over the winter of 2025. 36 direct connections with Spain and the Canary Islands will thus be cancelled, and operations at three Spanish bases are set to be shut down over the coming months: Santiago, Tenerife North, and Vigo. 

Although Ryanair is currently the most important passenger airline within Spain, employing over 10,000 people in the country, the airline stated that it could no longer justify investing “in airports whose growth is being stymied by excessive and uncompetitive charges”.

“It is shocking that, despite contributing €28 billion to the Spanish economy and one in three tourists arriving on Ryanair flights, there is no willingness to collaborate to stimulate traffic in areas that need capacity, connectivity, and investment. Ryanair once again calls on the CNMC and the Spanish government to reject these excessive charge increases and extend the charge freeze to protect regional connectivity, tourism, and jobs”, said Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair’s DAC unit.

A clear response

Aena hasn’t hesitated to respond to Ryanair’s decision. According to CEO Maurici Lucena, the cut in passenger seats to Spain is proof of the airline’s “self-righteousness, rudeness, and blackmail”. She added that the 6.62% increase was based on solid microeconomic principles. Moreover, according to her, over the past few years, the airline has tried to intimidate the public authorities of Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.

Spanish Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz has already announced she would be requesting a meeting with Ryanair’s chairman.

“I can guarantee the response will be to enforce labour laws”, she told the press. 

As Ryanair’s capacity to Spain is reduced, the airline has decided to concentrate its efforts on destinations in Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Sweden, and Hungary instead during the winter of 2025. Ryanair currently intends to fly at least 3% more passengers overall in the year ending on 31 March 2026.