Ryanair, the European low-cost airline giant, has announced it will slash thousands of seats across several Spanish airports for the summer of 2025, affecting travelers seeking budget-friendly options.
Seven airports in Spain will see a reduction in Ryanair services, with some experiencing cuts as small as five percent, while others will lose the airline completely. In total, Ryanair is removing 800,000 seats, accounting for 18% of its operations in the country. Twelve routes will be discontinued entirely.
The airline has blamed the cuts on what it calls “excessive” fees imposed by Spanish airport operator Aena. However, Aena has responded strongly, accusing Ryanair of “blackmail” and suggesting the airline is using its influence to demand free airport access.
Most significantly impacted are the regional airports in Jerez and Valladolid, with Ryanair exiting entirely from both locations. Aena has stated that Valladolid will be left with only one commercial operator, Binter Canarias, which will maintain its twice-weekly flight to Gran Canaria. Jerez will have limited options, with Binter, Air Nostrum, and Vueling continuing to operate services to Madrid, Barcelona, Mallorca, Tenerife, and Gran Canaria.
Other airports, including Vigo, Santiago, Zaragoza, Asturias, and Santander, will also see reduced capacity. Vigo faces the biggest cut, with Ryanair pulling 61% of its flights. At Santiago, the airline will remove one of its aircraft, resulting in a 28% reduction in capacity.
“Aena’s excessive airport charges and lack of workable growth incentives continue to undermine Spain’s regional airports,” says Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair. “As a result, Ryanair will cease its entire Jerez and Valladolid operations, remove 1 based aircraft from Santiago ($100m investment) and reduce traffic in Vigo, Santiago, Zaragoza, Asturias, and Santander (loss of 800,000 seats) in Summer 2025.”
In response, Aena maintains that the average charge for airport services, which will remain frozen at €10.35 per passenger starting March 1, is not unreasonable. Furthermore, Aena points to a new initiative, launched in October 2024, which provides a 100% discount for additional passengers at regional airports that have yet to recover to pre-pandemic passenger levels. This initiative would effectively lower Ryanair’s per-passenger fee to just €2.
“Aena’s refusal to incentivise airlines to use underutilised capacity at its regional airports has forced Ryanair to reallocate aircraft and capacity to more competitive European markets,” Wilson adds.
However, Aena disputes Ryanair’s characterization, stating that the company’s aggressive communication strategy is difficult to interpret as anything other than an attempt to “blackmail” the airport operator and the Spanish public.
“Aena cordially urges Ryanair to calm down and abandon its long-standing and regrettably well-known mendacious, aggressive and threatening business and communication strategy,” says Aena, “which it is very difficult not to interpret as an attempt to blackmail Aena, the region and, ultimately, the Spanish public.”
