Ryanair has announced it is scrapping its flights to Aalborg and Billund in Denmark in response to what it calls a “short-sighted” and “harmful” decision by Danish authorities to introduce an aviation tax.
The budget Irish airline has routes in place from London Stansted to Aalborg and Billund. It also flies to Billund (a popular destination thanks to Legoland’s presence there) from Edinburgh and Manchester airports. But at the end of March 2025, all those flights will be wiped from schedules. Staff in Denmark are being offered jobs at other Ryanair bases.
1.7 million seats to be cut
As a result, Denmark will lose out on a capacity of 1.7 million seats, 32 routes and two aircraft for summer 2025, Ryanair has pointed out. It said in a statement it will be focusing its attention on “competing EU countries like Sweden, Italy, and Hungary who are abolishing their aviation taxes to promote connectivity, traffic, jobs, and economic growth.”
It is not the first time Ryanair has criticised airport management fees and aviation taxes around Europe or attempted to influence government policy on the issue. The carrier was recently accused of “blackmail” by Spanish airport management company Aena after it cut flights to regional airports for similar reasons to do with what it considers excessive airport charges.
Why is the tax being blamed?
Spain has accused Ryanair of using the airport charges as an excuse for its own ruthless business decisions and for some commentators, it might be difficult not to come to the same conclusion when looking at the commercial reality in Denmark. It’s true that Ryanair’s tight operations allow it to offer tickets starting at just £14.99 (around €17.09). However, that low price point means that, even if the carrier passed the full cost of the new aviation tax of just DKK 50 [€6.70] onto would-be flyers, customers would still only pay around £20 (less than €24) for their flight – hardly a bank-breaking amount.
Meanwhile, environmental campaign groups such as Stay Grounded have welcomed the airport taxes, telling Euronews for example, that “Measures to stop the growth of air traffic are exactly what we need.” And it remains to be seen whether Danish stakeholders and authorities will care enough to get into a war of words with Ryanair. Billund boasts over 80 destinations served by other carriers, such as Air Baltic, Air Canada, Air France, British Airways, KLM, LOT-Polish Airlines, Lufthansa and SAS. Aalborg in turn serves 40 direct destinations via scheduled and charter flights across the seasons.
