Ryanair will cut one million seats due to Aena's fare hike.

Airport operator Aena's announcement that it will increase fees by 6.5% by 2026, to €11.03 per passenger, is, according to Ryanair, "unjustified and damaging," as it represents "the highest level in a decade," despite coinciding with Aena's record profits and passenger numbers.

Given this situation, Ryanair's CEO has confirmed that next week the company will announce drastic reductions in seats at Spanish regional airports for next summer. The affected airports and the exact number of seats will be specified at a press conference the CEO will hold in Madrid next Wednesday.

A few weeks ago, Wilson stated that the cuts would be "quite severe" and "very drastic." In his opinion, the root of the problem lies in the lack of competitiveness of Spain's regional airports, many of which are 70% underutilized or nearly empty. "If the airports are empty, that means the pricing is bad. It's as simple as that," he asserts. Ryanair maintains that Aena's pricing structure for these facilities "has broken and failed" and will continue to negatively impact the economic outlook for regional Spain.

Ryanair's CEO criticizes Aena for being "a monopoly that exercises its power by raising prices," while in other parts of Europe, such as Italy, Sweden, and Hungary, airports and regions are lowering access costs to become more competitive and attract traffic. "If we, Europe's lowest-cost airline, can't make them work, no one can," Wilson emphasizes.

Ryanair has expressed its "deep frustration" with the Spanish government, accusing it of "indifference" to the situation and allowing the regional airport infrastructure to deteriorate. Wilson explained to Europa Press that, despite being Spain's largest airline with billions of euros invested in the country, he has received no response from the Minister of Transport to his numerous requests.

The consequences of this policy, Wilson warns, will be felt by the citizens of the regions known as "Empty Spain," who will lose frequent, low-cost connectivity. "This will translate into fewer passengers, fewer jobs, fewer connections, and fewer opportunities for tourism," he warned.

As Wilson explained to Europa Press, Aena's decision not to incentivize airlines to use untapped capacity at its regional airports is the reason Ryanair is forced to relocate aircraft and capacity to more competitive European markets, such as Italy, Sweden, Croatia, Hungary, and Morocco, where governments actively encourage growth.

"The capacity that is being withdrawn from Spanish regional airports will not remain in Spain, but will be allocated to other, more competitive countries or regions," the executive warned, asserting that "many European countries are interested in our investments."

The reduction in its operations at small facilities adds to the capacity reductions at seven Spanish airports that already occurred this summer, a season in which, despite this, traffic grew by 2% in Spain. Ryanair reduced its capacity by 18% this summer, losing a total of 800,000 seats and 12 routes due to "excessive charges and the ineffectiveness of Aena's incentive plans," which, in its opinion, are "completely ineffective in supporting the government's policy of growth at regional airports."

Ryanair has ceased operations in Jerez and Valladolid, withdrawn an aircraft based in Santiago (100 million dollars of investment) and also reduced traffic in five other regional airports: Vigo (-61%), Santiago (-28%), Zaragoza (-20%), Asturias (-11%) and Santander (-5%).

Irish low-cost airlines will continue to grow at major airports next winter, including Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Malaga, and the Balearic and Canary Islands, among others. "Without urgent action, Spain risks losing more capacity and investment to more competitive markets, leaving regional airports half-empty while Spain's competitors thrive," Wilson warned.

In his opinion, the problem is twofold: large airports are reaching capacity limits, and regional facilities are underutilized. As an alternative, Ryanair proposes that management of the least profitable airports could be transferred to the autonomous communities. "We don't care who manages the airports, as long as they are competitive," he explained.

At this point, he recalls that "it's the airlines that carry passengers, not the airports." "If they were hotels, with that occupancy they'd be closed," says Wilson, who suggests that Aena sell them so others can profit from them. "It could be that way because we've seen it in other places in Europe, but they're monopolists. We're more than fed up with hearing their excuses. They have infrastructure they don't use, but they don't want anyone to use it," he laments.

Aena is currently finalizing the drafting of the Airport Regulation Document 2027-31 (Dora III), with investments to expand and remodel several airports. Wilson believes it is "absolutely necessary" to provide more capacity to Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Malaga, and the Balearic and Canary Islands, but calls for "efficient expansion." However, Wilson warns that these investments "are paid for with airline money through taxes that apply for 25 years, not with Aena's money."

Regarding the government's fine imposed on five airlines for baggage charges (€108 million for Ryanair), Wilson calls it "populist" and believes Brussels will eventually open a case against Spain: "It's interference in pricing." The ball, in Ryanair's words, is now "in the court of the Spanish government," which must decide whether to allow the "terminal decline" of its regional airport infrastructure or act to reverse the situation.