The Irish airline reacts hard to the 6.57% increase in the airport rates that AENA will apply in 2026, from 10.35 to 11.03 euros. The company requires the Government and the CNMC to reject this rise and threatens to reduce routes and seats in regional Spain if measures are not taken.
A threat that is not new. This is not the first time that Ryanair uses pressure on regional airports as a negotiating weapon. During this summer, the company already executed a significant replication: it abandoned completely Valladolid and Jerez, and reduced its operation in Vigo, Santiago, Asturias, Santander and Zaragoza. In total, it has eliminated 800,000 places in these airfields between April and October, although at the national level it has maintained its growth.
Keep leading. The striking thing is that Ryanair maintains its dominant position in the Spanish market despite these strategic withdrawals. In the first half of this year, the airline transported 32.64 million passengers in Spain, 6.6% more than the previous year. This consolidates it as the company with the highest traffic volume in the country, expanding its advantage over eating to almost 10 million passengers apart.
Beyond rates. Although Ryanair presents the rise in rates as the main reason for his threat, the reality is more complex. The company maintains a legal battle with the Spanish government for the record fine of 107.78 million euros imposed by its hand luggage policies. This sanction, the greatest in Spanish business history, is part of a package that also punished Vueling and Easyjet for similar practices.
The strategy behind the pulse. The withdrawal in regional airports fits perfectly into the Ryanair strategy. These aerodromes depend greatly on the connectivity provided by the Irish low cost, as evidenced by the case of Valladolid, which went from touching the 100,000 passengers in the first semester of 2024 to just 41,725 in the same period of 2025. The company knows that its withdrawal causes a disproportionate impact on regional connectivity, which gives it power of negotiation.
The coming answer. The CNMC (National Commission of Markets and Competition) must pronounce on the tariff increase before the end of the year. Ryanair seeks to keep the freezing of fees that has been in force during the last decade, while Aena defends that his rates are internationally competitive and that he cannot make exceptions that violate the regulations. We will have to wait to know if this dispute will finally lead to a new reduction of places in the Spanish regional area.
Cover image | Ryanair
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