Ryanair News

[YorkRailFan]

Ryanair has announced some major shakeups for their 2025 network:

Ryanair set to scrap routes to popular European holiday destinations

Ryanair is set to scrap routes to popular European holiday destinations including Spain, France, Italy and Denmark.

www.nationalworld.com

Italy:

Italy
Ryanair will scrap one of its Rome-based aircrafts from Fiumicino (the country's largest airport) for summer 2025. "This means no growth for Rome despite the celebrations for the Jubilee year," the airline added, blaming the news on municipal surcharges in the main Italian airports that start on April 1.

France:

France
Ryanair has already closed its Bordeaux base last year, and has "backed out of operating flights to Paris". France is gearing up for a significant hike in aviation tax, with rates expected to soar by more than double come 2025 - a move that appears to be backed by the Minister of Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin. This steep increase could potentially provoke Ryanair to scale back its French operations.

Denmark:

Denmark
Ryanair has scrapped all flights to and from Aalborg, after Denmark announced new aviation taxes. The new tax, which is 50DKK (£5.57), will apply to all passengers departing from Denmark and will be paid for by airlines. Ryanair is scaling back its flights to and from Denmark next year and will stop services from Aalborg Airport entirely, according to a report from Danish aviation media Check-in.

Spain:

Spain
Ryanair explained that it would close its Jerez and Valladolid operations, remove one based aircraft from Santiago, and will cut traffic at five other regional airports – Vigo (-61%), Santiago (-28%), Zaragoza (-20%), Asturias (-11%) and Santander (-5%) – during this summer.

Very disappointing to say the least, but that's just part of the Low Cost market, reacting quickly to changes in demand.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Ryanair's cuts in Spain are a direct response to the ongoing fight with the Spanish government over hand luggage fees. These regional routes (especially from places like Vigo) will never work with free large cabin luggage, especially as Ryanair fly a lot of domestic routes for very little money. Of course, there's also the fact that Ryanair can simply make more money in summer by focusing on holiday traffic, they really don't need to waste planes on routes like Vigo-Seville.

Having said that, there's a clear trend in Western Europe right now of hammering the airlines with additional taxes, and I suspect that a lot of the marginal (and interesting) routes will start to vanish in the coming years.

 

[route101]

I think Billund has lost its flights too as the route has stopped from Edinburgh and Manchester.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Ryanair has announced some major shakeups for their 2025 network:
…………Very disappointing to say the least, but that's just part of the Low Cost market, reacting quickly to changes in demand.

Yes whatever one may think of Ryanair, they are really good at reacting quickly to market conditions.

 

[poffle]

Boeing aren't delivering the aircraft so Ryanair have to do a bit of contraction because of that. But they're good at pointing fingers in lots of other directions as well.

 

[pug1]

Boeing aren't delivering the aircraft so Ryanair have to do a bit of contraction because of that. But they're good at pointing fingers in lots of other directions as well.

Oh yes they’re well versed in public humiliation as a tactic. Usually they will drop marginal routes and use the opportunity to have a pop at whatever new law/tax/airport charge that may have been implemented (whether relevant or not) whilst doing so.

It’s why airports in the U.K. like Teesside, Exeter, Norwich, Cardiff should be wary. It’s always the non bases on the network that take the hit first, and this can damage the airports reputation over night. It’s a ruthless industry.

 

[daodao]

It’s always the non bases on the network that take the hit first, and this can damage the airports reputation over night.

That is not always true. If the airline concerned bases aircraft at a particular airport, and then decides to close that base, the airport affected usually loses a significant number of routes. That is exactly what will happen at Billund airport at the end of March 2025 when Ryanair closes its base there - 12 routes will cease. In this case, Denmark appears to have shot itself in the foot, given the likely adverse effect on tourism to Jutland, in particular Legoland.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I remember when Ryanair pulled out of Blackpool allegedly because BPL put a 10 pound departure/“development” tax on tickets. It basically then ceased commercial operations.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Ryanair's cuts in Spain are a direct response to the ongoing fight with the Spanish government over hand luggage fees. These regional routes (especially from places like Vigo) will never work with free large cabin luggage, especially as Ryanair fly a lot of domestic routes for very little money. Of course, there's also the fact that Ryanair can simply make more money in summer by focusing on holiday traffic, they really don't need to waste planes on routes like Vigo-Seville.

Having said that, there's a clear trend in Western Europe right now of hammering the airlines with additional taxes, and I suspect that a lot of the marginal (and interesting) routes will start to vanish in the coming years.

Spain has an ever expanding high speed rail network, so a lot of the domestic flights have become increasingly uncompetitive anyway. The number of flights on the Madrid to Barcelona axis have collapsed since the days when the train took over 6h between the two cities (2h 30m - 3h 15m today). From an environmental perspective I would suggest that is a good thing too.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

The number of flights on the Madrid to Barcelona axis have collapsed since the days when the train took over 6h between the two cities (2h 30m - 3h 15m today). From an environmental perspective I would suggest that is a good thing too.

Absolutely it is a good thing.

 

[Snow1964]

Boeing aren't delivering the aircraft so Ryanair have to do a bit of contraction because of that. But they're good at pointing fingers in lots of other directions as well.

Although they have introduced some other routes, eg I think Cork-Fueteventura is new.

Last Autumn (Oct-Dec) Ryanair were due to receive 9 new 737 max 8, but due to Boeing strikes I think they got just 2 (with the other 7 delayed until early 2025). Should have been 29 new planes before busy 2025 summer season (but looking like Ryanair might only see about half what it expected). With Ryanair planes often doing 2 or 3 round trips per day, would equate to about 40 daily return trips without a plane. Not suprising they have cut some routes.

I need to look up and check, but don't think Ryanair are due any new planes in 2026, but from 2027 the bigger 737 max 10 were due to start arriving. As far as I'm aware Boeing is many months behind with getting it certified, and rumours are that Boeing with try and get the smaller max 7 variant certified first (there are number of US airlines awaiting it), so could easily be at least another year before max 10 is certified which could easily lead to more new aircraft delays for Ryanair

 

[pug1]

That is not always true. If the airline concerned bases aircraft at a particular airport, and then decides to close that base, the airport affected usually loses a significant number of routes. That is exactly what will happen at Billund airport at the end of March 2025 when Ryanair closes its base there - 12 routes will cease. In this case, Denmark appears to have shot itself in the foot, given the likely adverse effect on tourism to Jutland, in particular Legoland.

Not always no, they also close bases like Billund, but they have gaslighting down to a fine art. If Billund was of commercial and strategic importance they’d never close it, but because it’s probably a bit of an outlier and doesn’t really play an important role in the Ryanair network they’ll happily can it and blame the Danish for something or other. It’s their MO, and now people are pointing the finger at the Danes… Job complete.

 

[AlastairFraser]

That is not always true. If the airline concerned bases aircraft at a particular airport, and then decides to close that base, the airport affected usually loses a significant number of routes. That is exactly what will happen at Billund airport at the end of March 2025 when Ryanair closes its base there - 12 routes will cease. In this case, Denmark appears to have shot itself in the foot, given the likely adverse effect on tourism to Jutland, in particular Legoland.

Although EasyJet or another LCC could easily introduce new routes to pick up on the latent demand for travel to Legoland.

 

[Tetchytyke]

In this case, Denmark appears to have shot itself in the foot

No, Ryanair have closed the base for commercial reasons, i.e. they can make more money somewhere else, and have chosen to blame the Danish government.

It’s what airlines do.

EasyJet have further cut their routes and frequency to the Isle of Man this summer. The simple truth is they can make more money flying somewhere else, so they will fly somewhere else. But easyJet have, instead, chosen to blame the fact that flights to the IOM are charged at the normal rate of APD rather than the domestic rate.

Of course people now blame our government, even though cutting APD would cost our government £3M and every single penny of that money would just go to easyJet. EasyJet wouldn’t reduce fares by a single penny. The routes they’ve cut, of course, are the ones where demand is weakest and, even if APD were cut, EasyJet would likely pull them anyway.

 

[peteb]

Possibly unrelated but the Ryanair website seemed to be having serious issues earlier tonight. My attempts to view my account at first failed then I got a sort of corrupted website with gobbledegook and lots of % signs. Although the app seems to be working normally,attempts to print boarding passes from the website proved fruitless.

 

[1D54]

Wonder if they will waive the £30 fee for printing at the airport for anyone travelling today who couldn't print at home last night.. Silly question really!!

 

[poffle]

Wonder if they will waive the £30 fee for printing at the airport for anyone travelling today who couldn't print at home last night.. Silly question really!!

I've had the charge waived when I couldn't check-in online. But helpline doesn't open until 09:00 CET long after early flights have departed.

I can imagine having trouble at some of the airports where Ryanair don't operate their own check-ins.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I remember when Ryanair pulled out of Blackpool allegedly because BPL put a 10 pound departure/“development” tax on tickets. It basically then ceased commercial operations.

Generally speaking, Ryanair's business model involves forcing fees down to rock bottom at such secondary airports, because the routes aren't viable with high fees. Ryanair know fine well that no-one is going to pay high fares to Billund or Blackpool, but they know that people can be tempted with a 20 quid return flight.

If Billund was of commercial and strategic importance they’d never close it, but because it’s probably a bit of an outlier and doesn’t really play an important role in the Ryanair network

Billund was largely only there because Ryanair had a very competitive deal with the airport owners, nothing more. The tax is one thing (and 50DKK is significant enough to be up to 25% of the fare on many of the Billund routes), but they were also looking for a new long term agreement to keep planes based there. The airport is owned by local municipalities, and there's been a lot of development in/around Billund in recent years, meaning that the municipalities will come under pressure to agree to whatever Ryanair are demanding.

One thing that a lot of Western European airport owners still haven't realised is that Ryanair can make more money operating sunshine flights from airports like Rzeszów, especially as countries like Poland grow economically. Basing two planes in Billund makes very little sense economically if they don't have a good deal, especially as they've got the fleet to test out routes like Gdańsk-Bratislava that will seize business traffic from Vienna/Bratislava to Gdańsk.

 

[TravelDream]

One thing that a lot of Western European airport owners still haven't realised is that Ryanair can make more money operating sunshine flights from airports like Rzeszów, especially as countries like Poland grow economically

This is definitely true.

Disposable income in places like Poland/ the Czech Republic has been soaring meaning more and more people can afford to make sun holidays in the likes of Spain and Portugal. The market is nowhere near as developed as Britain or Germany, but it's certainly growing quickly.

I think too many in the West still have a view of places like that when communism fell and people lived in poverty and most flights were for migrant workers and stag/hen parties.

Ryanair's business model involves forcing fees down to rock bottom at such secondary airports, because the routes aren't viable with high fees.

Not saying this is totally wrong, but there's also an element of trying to squeeze every penny out of their operations. And also sending a message to other airports - if you cut subsidies/ raise fees, we can and will leave.

 

[1D54]

According to:

Ryanair axing flights to European holiday hotspots - full list

German airports Dortmund, Dresden and Leipzig will be cut from Ryanair’s offerings while Hamburg flights will also be reduced in the summer. This will axe a total of 22 routes from the airline’s roster.

Apologies if i have missed this but i took an EZY flight this morning and the talk was about Ryanair going digital boarding pass only from May. I suppose it stops the rip off prices they charge to print one out for any unfortunate who has mislaid it on the way to the airport but this decision is not going down well from the bits i have read online.

Hopefully the passes when sent to the device can be forwarded to travelling companion (if there is one of course!!) for peace of mind because some people are going to end up in bother.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Just an anecdotal piece of news, but after Wrocław-Malaga-Wrocław and Wrocław-Valencia-Wrocław flights on Ryanair in the past three weeks, it's very clear that they've had an edict from above to go in hard when it comes to checking hand luggage. I've never seen them systematically check wheeled suitcases before, but it's clear that they're clamping down hard. Even in Valencia, they were paying a lot of attention to anyone who had a visible backpack.

It's being reported in different places too, such as this article from the Daily Express.

An angry passenger has blasted Ryanair’s ground staff after she was rudely instructed to pay more for her “protruding” bag or risk not being let on the plane.

It's an interesting change from their previous quite relaxed policies, and I wonder if they're doing it in anticipation of being forced to allow larger pieces of luggage for free onboard?

 

[mpthomson]

Just an anecdotal piece of news, but after Wrocław-Malaga-Wrocław and Wrocław-Valencia-Wrocław flights on Ryanair in the past three weeks, it's very clear that they've had an edict from above to go in hard when it comes to checking hand luggage. I've never seen them systematically check wheeled suitcases before, but it's clear that they're clamping down hard. Even in Valencia, they were paying a lot of attention to anyone who had a visible backpack.

It's being reported in different places too, such as this article from the Daily Express.



It's an interesting change from their previous quite relaxed policies, and I wonder if they're doing it in anticipation of being forced to allow larger pieces of luggage for free onboard?

More likely trying to enforce a consistent standard so that everyone understands what it is, which avoids the Express and Mail type headlines. Ryanair's allowance isn't particularly stingy, Singapore has the exact same allowance, although expressed differently, for economy class. Mostly it's people trying it on or not understanding that different airlines have different size requirements.

 

[route101]

Just an anecdotal piece of news, but after Wrocław-Malaga-Wrocław and Wrocław-Valencia-Wrocław flights on Ryanair in the past three weeks, it's very clear that they've had an edict from above to go in hard when it comes to checking hand luggage. I've never seen them systematically check wheeled suitcases before, but it's clear that they're clamping down hard. Even in Valencia, they were paying a lot of attention to anyone who had a visible backpack.

It's being reported in different places too, such as this article from the Daily Express.



It's an interesting change from their previous quite relaxed policies, and I wonder if they're doing it in anticipation of being forced to allow larger pieces of luggage for free onboard?

I have noticed this with Ryanair and Easyjet. At Edinburgh they were getting everyone to put the cabin cases in the size bin. Even if the just the wheels on suit cases were sticking out they were charging people £70. Caused a few upset passengers and delayed the boarding process. I thought that was taking it too far with the wheels.

 

[jon0844]

Yes, I saw them check the wheels and realised that a lot of people would be caught out by this. They can even measure the size of the bags you can put under the seat, and again they can be quite strict even though two small wheels sticking out a cm or so isn't likely to cause an issue under a seat - it's just as likely someone doesn't push it far enough under as it is.

 

[edwin_m]

Glad I got the type of case where the wheels are mostly recessed into the body of the case instead of being like castors on the bottom (when they haven't been broken off and lost on a baggage belt somewhere).

 

[TravelDream]

Just an anecdotal piece of news, but after Wrocław-Malaga-Wrocław and Wrocław-Valencia-Wrocław flights on Ryanair in the past three weeks, it's very clear that they've had an edict from above to go in hard when it comes to checking hand luggage. I've never seen them systematically check wheeled suitcases before, but it's clear that they're clamping down hard. Even in Valencia, they were paying a lot of attention to anyone who had a visible backpack.

It's always been variable in my experience. I flew Ryanair the other day and the UK side didn't really check unless bags were noticeably oversized. On the other side, they were incredibly strict.
One guy had to pay for a bumbag size manbag as it wouldn't fit in his backpack.

It was that way years ago and is still the same today.

It's the same with wheels. The sizes they give include the wheels, they aren't in addition, which should be obvious. The sizers have always accounted for this.

I can well believe someone might have used a slightly oversized bag multiple times to get caught one unlucky time.

 

[1D54]

Valencia and Malaga have been mentioned and i wonder if this is a coincidence or something to do with constant problems Ryanair have with Spain over fines for 'abusive practices' on charging for hand luggage etc.

 

[signed]

I have only seen one people getting their bag sized when I boarded back to France from Valencia. I wonder whether the destination has a factor.

Poland being as a huge market for them, maybe they want to milk this even more.

or something to do with constant problems Ryanair have with Spain over fines for 'abusive practices' on charging for hand luggage etc.

It very likely has

 

[mpthomson]

I have noticed this with Ryanair and Easyjet. At Edinburgh they were getting everyone to put the cabin cases in the size bin. Even if the just the wheels on suit cases were sticking out they were charging people £70. Caused a few upset passengers and delayed the boarding process. I thought that was taking it too far with the wheels.

The wheels have always had to fit into the dimensions, it states that on the website. People can’t complain if they either chance it and get caught out or they haven’t read the (very clear) direction on the website.

 

[signed]

People can’t complain if they either chance it and get caught out or they haven’t read the (very clear) direction on the website.

Common sense is sadly absent from more and more people, see the trundling in the various papers