Ryanair cuts 3 aircraft and 3 Vienna routes following a recent announcement made on September 17 stating the reason is due to high taxes and airport fees, which the CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, shares as ‘ridiculously high’ and ‘harmful’. The Billund, Santander, and Tallinn routes from Vienna will be discarded for winter 2025.
Ryanair Cuts Routes and Based Aircraft Due to Taxes and Fees
Due to Austria’s 30% aviation tax increase post-COVID-19 pandemic, the €12 fee and excessive airport fees have been shared by Ryanair as ‘damaging’ following their decision to cancel 3 Vienna routes and 3 aircraft based.
Other EU countries, such as Sweden and Hungary, have recently scrapped outstanding fees and taxes to encourage tourism post-pandemic and grow traffic to improve their economy.
Ryanair has continuously shared its efforts to help Austria grow back to its pre-pandemic tourism rate,, which stood at 160% and has now significantly fallen to 98% five years later. The airline has repeatedly called on the Austrian government to abolish the €12 aviation fee, which is severely hindering tourism, economic growth, and job creation for residents.
“Vienna’s ridiculously high access costs, including Austria’s harmful Aviation Tax of €12 per passenger has forced Ryanair to switch 3 aircraft and cancel 3 routes (Billund, Santander & Tallin) in Vienna for Winter ’25, further damaging Austrian traffic, jobs, and tourism. Austria remains one of the few EU countries (like Germany) that has still failed to recover its pre-Covid traffic. This is despite Ryanair’s rapid growth in Austria since 2019 (+160%), including the addition of 4 new routes to/ from Salzburg and Linz this Winter.” shares CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary.
‘Austria has become hopelessly uncompetitive,’ comments Ryanair on excessive fees and taxes
“As a result of the Govt’s €12 Aviation Tax and sky-high access costs, Austria has become hopelessly uncompetitive. Wizz’s 5 aircraft base closure shows that Austria can no longer compete with lower cost EU markets like Sweden, Hungary, and regional Italy, which have scrapped their Aviation Tax to stimulate traffic growth.” states CEO, Michael O’Leary
A call for the government to abolish the extreme aviation taxes and airport fees has been made by Ryanair repeatedly before their final action to cancel 3 aircraft and 3 Vienna routes due to the result of compromises not being made.
The airline has stated that if the law is abolished, their continued efforts in Austria will result in up to 12 million passenger growth across Austrian routes, stimulating traffic in both tourism and the economy, as well as creating jobs.
Ryanair shared their willingness to create over 40 new routes and over 300 jobs for flight crew and engineers, and filling the gap left by Lufthansa, Wizz and other high-fare airlines who continue to cut routes to/from Austria in recent months if the Austrian government compromises with the airline and removes excessive taxes.
CEO Michael O’Leary has commented that the airline will have no further choice but to relocate aircraft and their efforts to lower-cost EU markets like Sweden, Italy and Hungary if Austria fails to take the opportunity of abolishing the fees and taxes whilst they can.
What do you think of this ultimatum made by Ryanair? Let us know in the comments below.
Aviation Reporter - Student journalist, writer and self-taught artist who loves to practice the art of poetry alongside painting and being a student in Journalism.
