Ryanair is considering cutting more flights from medium and small Spanish airports next winter and in 2026 if operator Aena does not lower its fees, newspaper El Economista reported on Monday citing the Irish airline’s CEO Eddie Wilson. Regional airports “need low fees to stimulate growth”, Wilson told El Economista in an interview, “otherwise the formula will not work”, he said, adding that the company would not invest in loss-making operations.
The largest European airline in terms of passenger numbers said in January that it would reduce flights at seven regional airports in Spain this summer and cancel some 800,000 passenger seats compared to the previous year. However, it added 1.5 million seats at popular larger airports such as Madrid, Malaga and Alicante, according to El Economista.
A spokesperson for Aena declined to comment, though the company in January called Ryanair’s arguments “spurious” and said its fees were among the lowest in the region. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has already warned told the Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, that his airline has ‘20 times more passengers’ than the number of voters for the left-wing coalition group Sumar and has demanded that he withdraw his sanctions for abusive practices.
“Ryanair has 20 times more passengers than the three million who voted for Mr Bustinduy and his party Sumar in the Spanish elections. 20 times more Spaniards support Ryanair than the mad minister Bustinduy and his illegal hand luggage fines,” O’Leary said in a statement. This is not the first criticism fired by the Ryanair boss at Bustinduy, who has imposed fines of 179 million euros on five airlines for charging for hand luggage, fines that O’Leary considers ‘invented’ and ‘illegal’.
“If Mr Bustinduy really cared about consumers, he would scrap his illegal hand luggage fines and instead crack down on Spanish online travel agencies who continue to overcharge consumers with inflated airfares and hidden extra charges for luggage and seats,” he argued. In O’Leary’s opinion, Bustinduy is in breach of EU regulation 1008/2008, which, in his words, “guarantees airlines the freedom to set fares as low as we like, and to establish baggage policies free from political interference”.
The CEO of Ryanair has branded the minister ‘naive’ and has warned him that his sanctions “will increase air fares for Spanish consumers”. Before O’Leary released the statement, Bustinduy had a meeting with representatives of the Council of Consumers and Users (CCU). The president of the CCU, Ana Caballero, informed the minister that the consumer and user associations support the orders he signed in November to sanction five airlines for abusive practices such as charging supplements for hand luggage or for reserving adjacent seats to accompany dependent persons, the ministry said in a statement.
The fines are ‘a firm and necessary step to guarantee the protection of consumer rights,’ Caballero said. The CCU, in a statement, recalled that these practices represent breaches of the rules protecting air transport users and are ‘abusive clauses. The CCU is confident that the European Commission will accept the ministry’s arguments for these sanctions and has rejected the ‘personal smear’ accusations made by O’Leary in the previous days against the minister.
“If only the CEO of Ryanair would spend half as much time obeying the law as he does insulting me. It would be more productive for all parties involved,” said Bustinduy, who thanked the users’ associations for their support. Support, “without which sanctions on airlines would not have been possible,” Bustinduy said.
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Ryanair complaining about prices? They are the worst people for overcharge.
Has anyone ever heard Michael O’Leary do anything other than complain?