2025 was a big year for Ryanair, with the European budget airline making some key changes and announcements. The airline revealed major expansions to its winter schedule, especially in the UK, Finland and Italy, and announced new routes like London to Murcia and Rovaniemi to the UK. It also unveiled plans to boost passenger numbers and invest more in bases like Bologna.
On the other hand, there were also some challenges, such as persistent Boeing delays, with Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary slamming the aircraft company’s management for “running around like headless chickens”. The airline’s recent move to phase out physical boarding passes has also been met with significant backlash.
However, one of the most impactful announcements was Ryanair’s decision to cut several routes in 2026, across major destinations such as Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and beyond – with more destinations being added to the list in January.
This move will potentially slash around three million seats overall, while significantly impacting connections and passenger convenience for smaller cities.
Here are all the places that will be affected by Ryanair’s route cuts in 2026.
Which German routes is Ryanair cutting in 2026?
In October 2025, Ryanair revealed that it would be slashing 24 routes to and from Germany – a reduction of almost 800,000 seats – for the Winter 2025/2026 schedule.
Nine airports have already been affected so far, including Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Memmingen, Frankfurt-Hahn, Dresden, Dortmund and Leipzig. Operations will continue to be suspended at the Leipzig, Dresden and Dortmund airports in 2026 beyond the winter schedule.
However, details are yet to be released about which other airports might continue being impacted throughout the year.
Ryanair has blamed high air traffic control (ATC) and security fees, as well as high German aviation taxes and numerous airport changes for this decision, slamming the government for harming competitiveness.
“Germany’s sky-high access costs are in stark contrast with countries such as Ireland, Spain and Poland which have no aviation taxes, or Sweden, Hungary and regional Italy, where aviation taxes are being scrapped alongside reduced access costs to boost traffic, tourism, jobs and economic recovery,” the airline said in a press release in October.
“As a result, Germany remains among the worst recovered air traffic markets in Europe, operating at just 88 per cent of pre-Covid levels.”
Ryanair also called out the German government for backtracking on its promises to lower aviation taxes, unlike other major EU nations.
Such taxes are, partially, in place to account for the devastating climate impact of flying, and to encourage travellers to take greener modes of transport such as trains.
The airline has also revealed that it plans to move capacity out of Germany to other countries with more affordable costs, while warning of potential withdrawals and further reductions, if the situation does not improve.
However, if the government addresses the above issues, the airline has said that it would be happy to increase capacity again.
Which Spanish routes is Ryanair ending in 2026?
Ryanair has also announced flight cuts to Spain in 2026. After cutting around one million seats for the winter 2025 schedule, the airline will follow up with a capacity reduction of about 1.2 million seats from its summer schedule for regional Spain.
This includes stopping all flights to Asturias, as well as Vigo. The airline will also close its base at Santiago de Compostela, while continuing to reduce capacity for Santander and Zaragoza and slashing connections to the Canaries.
All flights have been stopped for Tenerife North this winter. Jerez’s base, which has also been closed this season, and will remain shut in 2026. Similarly, all flights to Valladolid have been stopped, with Ryanair’s base there being closed since winter 2024.
Ongoing disagreements with Spanish airport operator Aena over steep tax and airport fee hikes are to blame for the cuts, along with what Ryanair claims are “illegal bag fines” from the Spanish government – referring to the 2024 clampdown on extra cabin bag fees.
According to Ryanair, this makes regional Spanish airports less competitive than lower-cost alternatives in Morocco and Italy, among other places.
“Aena’s monopoly approach to pricing is that small underused regional airports should charge similar rates as busy main airports like Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and Malaga. As a result, Ryanair is switching seat capacity to these bigger Spanish airports (where passenger demand and air fares are higher),” the airline said in a press release in October.
It also said that it was moving to other lower-cost airports in Croatia, Morocco, Italy, Sweden and Albania, where governments were reducing airport fees and lowering environmental taxes.
However, rival airlines such as Vueling, Binter, Iberia and Wizz Air have all stepped into the gap left by Ryanair, which is likely to decrease passenger inconvenience significantly, by offering many of the same routes.
Which routes is Ryanair cutting in France this year?
France is also getting hit by Ryanair cuts in 2026. The airline already slashed 750,000 seats and 25 routes to France in winter 2025, after stopping all services to Bergerac, Brive and Strasbourg. This was mainly due to higher French airline taxes.
However, months after this decision, Ryanair announced in December that it would be restarting flights to Bergerac in summer 2026, following negotiations with French authorities, although services to Brive and Strasbourg remain suspended.
Ryanair cautioned that further French cancellations may be on the cards for 2026. “Ryanair will leave French regional airports in the summer of 2026,” the airline’s chief commercial officer, Jason McGuinness, revealed in the Paris-based ‘Challenges’ business magazine.
This warning is already bearing fruit: Ryanair announced in January 2026 that it will stop operations at Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport from 27 March due to environmental taxes. Currently, the airline operates budget flights to London, Porto and Fez from Clermont-Ferrand.
The carrier has also dropped its Dublin-Rodez route for 2026. Ryanair will, however, maintain services from London Stansted and Brussels to the airport in the southern region of Occitania.
Which Belgian routes is Ryanair cutting in 2026?
Ryanair has removed 20 routes and one million seats from Brussels and Charleroi for its winter 2026/27 schedule.
Like other destinations, this is mainly due to a new Belgian aviation tax which will double the charge to €10 per passenger. Additionally, Charleroi might impose local taxes too.
These have impacted destinations like Milan-Bergamo, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome-Ciampino, Krakow and Mallorca, among others. This decision cuts around 22 per cent of Ryanair’s Belgian capacity, with the airline also withdrawing five aircraft from the Zaventem and Charleroi bases.
“If the government really wants to revive Belgium’s economy, they should abolish this harmful aviation tax to generate more traffic and tourism, not double it,” the airline said in a press release in early December.
“Ryanair calls again on Prime Minister De Wever and his government to abolish the aviation tax or Belgian traffic will collapse and fares will soar, just as they have done in Austria and Germany, where governments repeatedly increased access costs.”
Which Ryanair routes are being cut in Portugal?
Ryanair will slash all six of its routes to and from the Azores from the end of March this year, which will affect about 400,000 fliers per year. This will represent a cut of around 22 per cent in Ryanair’s Portuguese capacity, impacting key cities like Porto and Lisbon as well.
This is also mainly because of higher air traffic control fees imposed by the Portuguese operator ANA (Vinci), as well as EU taxes such as the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which targets short-haul flights to destinations like the Azores and Madeira, while exempting longer routes.
A new €2 travel tax in Portugal, which Ryanair has said is counterproductive compared to other EU countries, has added to this.
Portugal’s operational costs have also been rising for the last few months, with several airport staff strikes as well, further complicating the situation.
“Sadly, the ANA monopoly has no plan to grow low-fare connectivity to the Azores. The ANA monopoly faces no competition in Portugal – which has allowed it to extract monopoly profits, by raising Portuguese airport fees without penalty – at a time when competing EU airports are lowering fees to stimulate growth,” Ryanair said in a press release in late November.
“The Portuguese Govt. must intervene and ensure that its airports, which are a critical part of national infrastructure – especially in an island economy like the Azores – are used to benefit the Portuguese people, rather than benefitting a French airport monopoly.”
However, ANA has categorically denied these monopoly abuse claims, stating that dialogue remains open and that the fees in the Azores were low.
Ryanair flights being cut in Bosnia, Serbia and Lithuania
Ryanair will also implement reductions across Bosnia and Serbia in summer 2026. This is mainly to reallocate resources to areas with growing summer demand, like Croatia.
This includes cutting six weekly departing flights from Banja Luka, which will reduce to two weekly rotations on services to Vienna, Memmingen and Baden Baden.
In Niš, the airline will slash two weekly flights, including one each to Vienna and Malta.
Ryanair is also ending two routes between Ireland and Lithuania. As of April, it will no longer fly from Belfast to Kaunas or from Dublin to Palanga. It is also scrapped flights from Vilnius to Stockholm.
Read the full article here
