Ryanair explains why it's not increasing the number of routes at a couple of popular airports in the south of Spain

Right now, Irish budget airline Ryanair has only three routes flying to and from Jerez de la Frontera airport in the south of Spain. They are to Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and London Stansted.There is no sign of other routes on the horizon from Ryanair. This seems to be a very poor show considering the airline is one of those flying to the most destinations on the planet and certainly the most in Europe.

The airline's CEO Eddie Wilson has revealed at a press conference the reasons why it is not growing in Cadiz province as well as in other places such as Granada, Zaragoza, Valladolid and Reus. His statement is also a strong slap on the wrist for Spain's main airport operator (Aena).

Ryanair has attacked Aena's fee hikes for airlines using the country's airports and he has pointed out that this is slowingdown the increase in passenger traffic for Spain. The company is still going to increase its capacity in Spain by 6% next year, but that does not compare favourably with their planned 9% increase in overall growth. In fact, Ryanair has added63new routes to its scheduled flights in Spain for this summer, bringing the total number of connections in the country to 765, and the company expects to have carried a total of 58 million passengers (+7%) by the end of this year. Still, it could have been much more.

The Ryanair CEO pointed out that the impact of the airport tax increase for 2024,at 4.09% and applied since last March, has resulted in an increase of some 50 million euros to Ryanair's operating costs.

For 2025, also applicable from next March, Aena has proposed an increase of 0.54%, a decision against which Ryanair has lodged a formal appeal with Spain's national markets and competition commission (CNMC). The Irish airline accuses Aena of "failing to comply" with the decision taken by the Spanish government in 2021 to freeze airportcharges until 2026.

Wilson is adamant that, had Aena maintained a discount plan, Ryanair would have increased capacity at Jerez airport.

Wilson also criticised the fact that Aena is focusing on investing in other Latin American countries like Brazil but not in Spanish airports, in particular regional airports, which is where the airline intends to grow.

According to the CEO, the correct strategy would be to freeze charges and allow traffic growth at airports in Spanish regions with traditionally fewer flights, which would increase revenues and, once there, increase charges.

He also pointed out that this would be aimed at alleviating the problems of 'empty Spain' and diversifying the tourist offer beyond the usual sun and sand destinations.

"We have the airports, we have the planes, we just have to make it competitive," said the executive, who stressed that it is not necessary to build "anything new", just "change the mindset and let the airports gain some traffic."

On his relationship with the Spanish government and with the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, Wilson said that it is good, but that the part of the relationship that "needs to change" is that of Aena.

Therefore the airline is calling for the 4.09% increase for this year to be abolished and the 0.5% increase for 2025 to be scrapped, as well as improving incentive schemes for regional airports to allow airlines to grow by using them more and preventing the introduction of harmful taxes for the sector.

Earlier this year, Ryanair presented a growth plan to Spain's prime minister Pedro Sánchez and the Minister of Transport that projected a 40% growth in airline passenger traffic by 2030, especially at regional airports, carrying more than 77 million passengers over the next 10 years.

However, it now considers that these plans are greatly affected by the increase in costs, but if Aena "were to introduce a discount plan", the low-cost airline could consider increasing capacity at airports such as Granada, Zaragoza, Valladolid and Reus as well as Jerez.

Since 2016, Ryanair has not opened any new regional base in Spain, while it has done so in other countries such as Italy, Croatia and Morocco, which it considers a "direct consequence of Aena's inability to offer competitive prices."

As mentioned before, Ryanair has added 63 new routes to its schedule in Spain this summer, bringing the total number of connections in the country to 765, and expects to carry a total of 58 million passengers (+7%) this year.

The company operates at 27 airports in the country, of which a dozen are operating bases for the company, and it has 103 aircraft stationed at them, representing an investment of 10.3 billion dollars (almost 9.28 billion euros).

Of these 63 routes, for the time being it has only presented the two that will be incorporated into Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, which will connect the Spanish capital with Verona (Italy) and Kaunas (Lithuania's second largest city after Vilnius, the capital).

The airline presented these two new routes at a press conference on Tuesday of last week in the presence of its CEO Eddie Wilson, where he recalled his earlier meeting with PM Sánchez at which he pledged to add 33 new aircraft in Spain and increase traffic by 40% by 2030 with 77 million passengers and more than 1,000 routes.