Ryanair has this week announced the launch of two new flights out of Madrid, but have still expressed unhappiness at airport operator AENA.
The airline has released details into the new flights, as well as going into detail why they are not happy with the operator.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
The New Ryanair Flights From Madrid…
The new flights from Madrid with Ryanair will be to Verona and Kaunas.
Furthermore, this will help the airline achieve over seven million passengers per year from the Spanish airport, representing a seven per cent increase.
With these new routes, it means that 63 will be on offer, with 13 aircraft based, or a $1.3bn investment.
It does sound like the airline is unhappy with AENA, the airport operator, as we will detail next.
Unhappiness Aimed at AENA…
Ryanair has continued to fight against AENA not just for flights in Madrid, but around the other Spanish airports they maintain.
The Irish low-cost carrier has stated the operator wish to increase airport charges by 0.5% in 2025.
They argue that this breaches the 2021 legislation put in place by the Spanish Government to freeze airport charges at all Spanish airports until 2026.
Eddie Wilson Speaks Out…
Eddie Wilson, the CEO of Ryanair had this to say on the matter:
“Ryanair should be growing much more at Spain’s regional airports, those that really need the growth and economic boost that comes with connectivity, but AENA’s excessive airport charges are significantly limiting that growth.”
“AENA’s plans to further increase airport charges ignore the Spanish Government’s commitment to freeze charges for 5 years at all airports until 2026, a decision that directly contributed to Spain’s rapid recovery from the Covid crisis, to which Ryanair responded with increased capacity to boost connectivity, tourism and employment in Spain.”
“Since 2016, Ryanair has not opened any new regional base in Spain, while during these years we have opened dozens of bases in regions that compete for the same tourism as Spain such as Reggio Calabria, Trieste, Dubrovnik and Tangier, where we have inaugurated new bases this summer.”
“While AENA continues to invest abroad in airports in the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, North and South America, it refuses to invest in incentives to support Spanish regional airports to grow tourism, connectivity and employment.”
“The regional airports managed by AENA have underused capacity, and it is inexplicable that AENA does not discount the fees to fill underused Spanish regional airports, but instead chooses to finance foreign airport investments.”
“Ryanair calls on AENA to urgently reverse its increase in airport charges in accordance with the 2021 DGAC resolution and to promote incentive packages at regional airports to support the Government’s regional policy to increase employment, tourism and connectivity. Without such long-term cost stability, other markets in Europe, with which Spain competes, will guarantee such investment.”
Overall…
In conclusion, the addition of more flights out of Madrid with Ryanair is a good thing, but it is limited due to the approach that AENA is taking.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how the Spanish Government responds to the operator’s attempt to raise prices.
It will be in the ideal world of the low-cost carrier that the government takes action on this.
But for now, all we can do is wait and see what happens next.
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