Ryanair

While Ryanair cuts 1.2 million seats in Spain, the gap it is leaving has a name: Wizz Air

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Ryanair continues in its thirteenth cutting seats at regional airports Spanish. The thing is that the rest of the low-cost airlines have not sat idly by and are taking advantage to have a greater presence. One of these airlines is Wizz Air, which is already thinking about grab a larger market share in Spain after the fight between Ryanair and Aena over airport taxes. Without its own bases, but with more routes and more seats. If some leave, others come. Ryanair has been in open war for months with the Government for Aena airport taxes. The Irish company considers that the rates at regional airports are unaffordable and has gone from threats to withdraw from several Spanish airports, closing its base in Santiago de Compostela, canceling flights in Vigo and Tenerife North, and will leave those in Valladolid and Jerez inactive. The total cut amounts to 1.2 million seats for the summer. In addition, next winter the airline also plans to reduce its capacity in Asturias, Santander, Zaragoza and several Canarian airports. Wizz Air has seen that gap. What Wizz Air is doing. The Budapest-based airline has decided to move in the opposite direction: it plans to increase its capacity in Spain by 39% throughout 2026. This is confirmed by Vera Jardan, the company’s corporate communications director, in statements collected by OkDiario. According to the media, the strategy does not involve opening its own bases, but rather expanding operations in the airports where it already has a presence and adding new routes. The company already operates in 16 Spanish airports, including Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Malaga, Alicante, Bilbao, Ibiza, Santander and Fuerteventura, and offers 144 routes to 15 different countries. Its latest novelty has been a direct connection between Menorca and Budapest. What they say from within. “Spain is definitely an increasingly important emerging market for us, on which we are increasingly focusing,” counted Jardan in the middle. “We see that they are more open to adventures and impromptu trips, and we would definitely like to satisfy that demand with more interesting flights and destinations to different countries,” the manager continued. Wizz Air has been betting for years on routes to central and eastern Europe, destinations that large airlines do not usually cover so frequently. He Ryanair withdrawal. Just like we counted For some time now, Ryanair has historically maintained some low-demand routes thanks to advertising contracts with local institutions. When those contracts are no longer profitable (or more attractive incentives have appeared in other markets, like morocco), the company has not hesitated to withdraw its flights. Added to this is the impact of AVE to Galiciawhich has reduced passengers from the plane in a region that has already accumulated a drop of 15.5% so far this year. What changes the travelers. In the short term, those traveling with Ryanair from affected regional airports will have fewer options or will have to travel to another departure point. Wizz Air can cover part of that demand, but its destination network and operating model are still not comparable to that of the Irish airline. What is clear is that the Hungarian company sees at this moment a real window of opportunity to gain share in a market that, until now, Ryanair had dominated with almost no direct competition in the low-cost segment. Cover image | Paréj Richárd In Xataka | If you thought that Ryanair was living outside the Hormuz crisis, its CEO has a message. And it doesn’t look good for Spain

The CEO of Ryanair is clear about why there are more and more drunks on its flights

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Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has called for airports stop serving alcohol before early morning flights. According to their argument, bad behavior on board does not stop growing and they think that through this initiative they would not have to divert their flights due to the behavior of some passengers. A growing problem. “If I go back ten years, we had maybe one deviation a week. Now we are close to one a day,” counted O’Leary himself told The Times. According to data from the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), airlines record around 400 more disruptive incidents per year than before the pandemic. Why airports have wide beams. Unlike conventional bars and restaurants, establishments within the UK boarding zones are exempt from time restrictions that regulate the sale of alcohol in the rest of the country. That means they can open and serve drinks at any time, including five or six in the morning. “I don’t understand why anyone serves beer at that time. Who needs to drink at five in the morning?” continued O’Leary. What Ryanair asks for. The Irish airline has been demanding a limit of two drinks per passenger at airports for years, something that, according to O’Leary, the company itself already applies on board its planes. Now it goes one step further and requires that airports respect the same alcohol sales schedules that apply to other establishments. Their idea is that this limit be linked to the boarding pass, to make control more effective. “Those who do not act responsibly, those who profit, are the airports that have those bars open at five or six in the morning and that, during delays, are happy to serve all the alcohol they want because they know that they export the problem to the airlines,” counted the manager in the middle. Furthermore, O’Leary also points out drug use as the main aggravating factor. The most affected routes. According to account The Times, the flights with the highest incidence of problematic behavior are those that connect the United Kingdom with leisure destinations such as Ibiza, Alicante or Tenerife. Routes from Ireland and Poland also experience frequent problems. What the law says. Being drunk on a plane is a crime in the United Kingdom, punishable by fines of up to £5,000 and two years in prison. If things go further and force the airline to divert the flight, the economic consequences can reach 80,000 pounds (which is make a Melendi in every rule). Ryanair has already taken legal action against passengers who caused diversions. According to the media, in January of last year he filed a lawsuit in Ireland against a traveler claiming 15,000 euros for a diverted flight on the Dublin-Lanzarote route. The risks are real. “Until someone causes an accident that causes a plane crash with hundreds of deaths, no government will take this problem seriously. And the airlines are desperate,” counted O’Leary to The Times. Other companies such as Jet2 are also pushing to create a national database that would allow troublesome passengers to be banned from all British airlines. AirportsUK, the organization that brings together the country’s airports, defends that they already work together with the rest of the sector through awareness campaigns. Cover image | Niels Baars and BENCE BOROS In Xataka | European airlines are taking advantage of the Iran crisis to accelerate something old: making your trip even more complicated.

Ryanair will cut 1.2 million seats in Spain but there is one region that will suffer more than the rest: Galicia

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Ryanair will reduce seats, cancel routes and raise ticket prices. That is the strategy that the company envisions for Spain during next summer. And Eddie Wilson has confirmed a strategy that has been talked about since last October when the CEO of Ryanair already threatened to take more flights from Spain if the situation did not change with Aena’s rates. And one autonomous community is feeling it more than the rest. 1.2 million seats. That will be the cut that Ryanair has prepared for our country next summer. It is something that was already reported in October and was confirmed last Monday. Counterscheduling the distribution of Aena dividends among its partners, Eddie Wilson has taken the opportunity to point out that its activity will be reduced in Spain in just a few months. They do so because the Government takes advantage of “(Aena’s) monopoly position in Spain’s main airports, obtaining excessive margins of 60% at the expense of local economies, which depend on affordable air travel for tourism and employment.” Without a change in airport taxesRyanair confirms that it is withdrawing flights in our country and that it will replace seats in larger airports. The reason is the repeated one in the last months of this Government-Ryanair battle: They consider that Aena’s rates at regional airports are too high. Once again, regional airports. According to the company, Aena’s airport taxes in regional spaces are uncompetitive and a burden on tourism and the economy of these cities. This has caused, according to the company, its departure from the airports of Asturias, Valladolid, Jerez, Tenerife North and Vigo and its activity to be reduced by 79% in Santiago compared to the summer 2024 figures. Not only that, in addition to this cut in seats, Wilson has not hesitated to warn that if the price of jet fuel becomes scarce, the first victims will be the regional airports, prioritizing the large seats. What about Galicia? Although Ryanair claims that its departure is fatally damaging the less frequented Spanish airports, the truth is that not all of them are suffering the same fate. A good example is Zaragoza. Compared to 2024, it will have 45% fewer seats, three routes canceled and two others cut. Despite this, Aena data They say that in 2025 the number of passengers grew by 1.9% (especially on domestic routes) and that in 2026 it is growing by 2.6%. Photography is very different in Galicia. So far this year, A Coruña airport is the only one that has grown. Without Ryanair, Vigo is falling 3.4% this year but the most worrying thing is in Santiago. At this airport, Ryanair has cut its activity by almost 80% compared to the summer of two years ago. In 2025 it has already fallen by 14.3% and this year it is falling by 29.6%. The lower activity at this airport has caused flights in the region to fall by 6.9% last year and so far this year this has worsened to 15.5%. There is only one worse fact. From all regions, Galicia is the one with the worst figures. And so far this year, only Castilla y León has lost more travelers, with a drop of 18.6%. However, its volume of travelers is much lower than that of Galicia. In the first three months of 2025, 40,051 people moved by plane in the region, while this year 32,613 passengers did so. That’s a drop of less than 8,000 seats filled. In Galicia, however, so far this year 987,812 passengers have taken a plane, while in 2025 a total of 1,168,745 people had taken a plane. That is, in the first quarter of the year, 180,933 passengers have been lost in the first quarter of 2026. And more than 200,000 passengers compared to 2024 when more than 1,194,032 people moved by plane in the first three months of the year. Not only the rates. When Ryanair announces that it is leaving an airport, it usually points to airport taxes, but the reality is more complex. The truth is that the company has maintained some commercial routes with low demand because it had advertising contracts that supported its routes. Contracts that he has not hesitated to break, as in Vigowhen you have found more juicy economic incentives like those that have arrived from Morocco. It must be taken into account thatthe launch of the AVE to Galicia It has also been a hard blow for airline companies that have seen how part of their customers move to the train since it offers more affordable rates and travel times that, adding the waits at airports, are similar to those of the plane. In fact, companies like Iberia have also reduced their supply because demand did not compensate for the effort. Photo | Left Victorian and Simone Muzzi In Xataka | The new EU border system is leaving people without flights. Ryanair has a solution: close check-in early

The fuel crisis is putting airlines in check. And Ryanair already knows where to start cutting: Spain

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Your flight has been cancelled. Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran for the first time two months ago, fear of a new oil crisis has skyrocketed. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has put fuel supplies in check since then and the aviation sector has been one of the most affected. Among the consequences, we have seen a serious increase in the cost of flights but also cancellations. Ryanair is clear about where it will cut flights from if necessary. What has happened? The CEO of Ryanair has launched a new threat: “if the situation continues, the first place we have in mind are the Spanish regional airports.” The words are from Eddie Wilson and have been collected by the newspaper ABC. That “if the situation continues” refers, of course, to the oil blockades in the Strait of Hormuz. And the company has once again raised its threats against the Government of Spain. Coinciding with the day in which Aena has distributed dividends among its partners, Ryanair has taken the opportunity to confirm that it will cut 1.2 million places this summer available at Spanish airports. And asked about how they face a possible fuel shortage, Wilson has once again taken the opportunity to question the viability of their activities at Spanish regional airports. What has been confirmed? Ryanair has been warning for months that it was going to cut operations this summer at Spanish airports if the Government did not reverse the increase in Aena airport taxes in the 2027-2031 cycle. Last Monday, the airline was ratified although it did not make it clear which airports will be the most punished. They do point out that with the extension of these cuts, in 18 months they have stopped offering three million places in our country (once the summer cut is consolidated). On the contrary, Morocco and Italy will grow by 11% and 9%, respectively. Of course, it is true that Regional airports are suffering with the departure of Ryanair but the size of the cut is misleading because, at the same time, its commitment to larger airports has been maintained or even expanded. And the new threat? The new threat is the possibility of scrapping more flights if Ryanair runs out of fuel. It seems logical that when prioritizing fuel, the company opts for larger airports where the flight occupancy rate will be higher or there is a greater chance of this being the case. In the month of April we have seen many cancellations from both American companies and United either Delta even the Asian ones like Air New Zealandpassing through the entire European framework as SAS or the Lufthansa Group, Wizz Air and easyJet (among others). And the CEO of easyJet already publicly warned that the situation in Europe could become seriously complicated starting in mid-May. How much real threat and imposted threat is there in Wilson’s words? It is difficult to know because it is impossible to know how much fuel Ryanair has or to what extent the company is willing to pay for kerosene before losing money. (or not earning what they consider enough). Because? The air sector is one of the most affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The increase in fuel prices losses are skyrocketing and Lufthansa will cancel more than 20,000 flights according to Financial Times to patch the rise in prices. The result, as we see, is fewer flights, more expensive flights or airlines that take advantage of the reduction in supply to tighten the nuts more for the passengers. They are the consequences of moving with a type of fuel that very little stock is handled in warehouses. The kerosene used by airplanes is delicate to store because it can quickly lose its properties. And International Air Transport Association (IATA), already warned that rebuild damaged refining capacity in the Middle East will take months. The forecasts for summer are not good. And it is clear that, if cuts have to be made, they will be cut where the least benefit is obtained. Photo | Ryanair and Gabriele Merlino In Xataka | Airlines have found in the fuel crisis the best argument to cut your benefits as a passenger

The new EU border system is leaving people without flights. Ryanair has a solution: close check-in early

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From 10 November, Ryanair check-in counters They will close one hour before of the scheduled departure, instead of the 40 minutes that is now allowed. The change implies that the traveler will have to coordinate the time better and go a little more in advance. All, according to the company, in order to avoid problems at security and passport controls. What exactly changes. Until now, Ryanair travelers who wanted to deliver their luggage at the airport had a limit of 40 minutes prior to the departure of their flight. With the new rule, that margin is extended to 60 minutes. In other words: you will have to arrive at the airport earlier and arrange your suitcase more in advance. The measure will apply to all airports where the Irish airline operates. Why does he do it? According to the company itselfthe goal is to reduce the number of passengers who miss their flight due to getting stuck in security or passport control queues. By bringing forward the closing of the counters, travelers with checked luggage would have more time to go through those checkpoints before boarding begins. Dara Brady, chief marketing officer at Ryanair, counted in the press release that the change is especially relevant “during peak periods, when some of these lines at the airport can be longer.” Milan was the best example. Queues at checkpoints are the common enemy that can cause us to end up missing our flight. And the last few weeks have been especially busy around it, because hundreds of passengers missed their flights due to Europe’s new Entry and Exit System (EES). This is the European Union’s new digital border control that forces non-EU citizens (including British citizens after Brexit) to register their biometric data, such as fingerprint and facial recognition, every time they cross a border in the Schengen area. The system was supposed to be fully operational on April 10, but it seems that no one thought that the system would end up being so chaotic. According to reported BBC, on April 16, a Ryanair flight from Bergamo airport in Milan left for Manchester, leaving behind a group of travelers who had been stuck in the border queue for an hour and a half without moving forward. That same day, another airline flight between Tenerife South and East Midlands also left many passengers on the ground. Mplus self-check-in kiosks. The measure comes accompanied by an expansion of self-check-in luggage kiosks, which will be available before October in more than 95% of the airports in its network. These terminals work integrated with the Ryanair application and allow the passenger to check in the suitcase and print the label without going through the traditional counter. The airline claims this will speed up the process and reduce waits. Who it affects and who it doesn’t. According to account airline, this change only affects 20% of Ryanair passengers who check baggage. The remaining 80%, who travel only with hand luggage, will not notice any difference. For this reason, if you travel with Ryanair and plan to check in a suitcase starting in November, take this margin into account and calculate that you will have to arrive a little earlier for your flights. Cover image | Marty Sakin In Xataka | The airlines had been warning for weeks and the consequences are already here: Volotea will charge 14 euros more for the Hormuz crisis

Ryanair has grounded its passengers twice in one week. The culprit has a first and last name: EES

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For a plane to take off on time and end up leaving hundreds of passengers behind is something that does not happen often. However, it has already happened on several Ryanair flights in recent weeks, and the explanation, technically, has little to do with the airline really. The new border system. The European Union has launched the Entry and Exit System (EES), a digital border control that forces non-EU citizens (including the British, since Brexit) to register their biometric data every time they cross a Schengen area border. That includes facial scanning and fingerprints. The system began rolling out in October and was due to be fully operational in all Schengen countries from April 10. What no one calculated quite correctly is the time it would take to process each passenger at the controls. What happened in Milan. On April 16, a Ryanair flight bound for Manchester took off from Bergamo airport, leaving behind a group of passengers still stuck in border control queues. According to counted one of those affected, Adam Hassanjee, 18, told the BBC, they had not moved in the queue for an hour and a half when they saw the plane leaving. He had to make a living on his own: first a flight to Malta, then to Leeds. In parallel, to EasyJet something similar happened to him at Linate airport, also in Milan, where of the 156 passengers on a flight to Manchester only 34 boarded. It has not been the only case. That same April 10, the date on which the EES was to be activated throughout the Schengen area, another Ryanair flight between Tenerife South and East Midlands, United Kingdom, also left passengers on the ground. Among them, according to reported BBC, a 42-year-old teacher, his wife and two-year-old son, who had to spend £1,600 finding an alternative route home because the next available Ryanair flight didn’t leave for a week. Ryanair’s version: they didn’t leave anyone. The airline has rejected firmly the narrative that he “left passengers behind.” His argument goes through the fact that everyone who was at the gate when it closed flew away. Those who did not arrive on time simply missed their flight. They also explained that, once boarding is closed, the passenger manifest is legally signed and sent to the captain, from which point nothing can be done. The EES thing, according to the airline, is a border control problem, not theirs. Punctuality. Technically, Ryanair may be right. But the image it conveys is that of an airline that prefers to leave on time, without dozens of passengers, rather than wait for a new, slow and technically problematic border control system to let its people through. It is not that it is illegal or unusual in the industry, but after the general chaos due to the implementation of the EES, there was a striking lack of communication to travelers. Peter Walker, the teacher who was stranded in Tenerife, counted to the media that at no time was there anyone from the airline to inform them or help them with options. What Brussels says. The European Commission has defended that the EES “works very well” and that in the vast majority of countries there have been no incidents. He acknowledged, however, that in some member states technical problems were detected in the first days. Just like share According to the media, since it started in October, the system has recorded more than 56 million border crossings and has prevented the entry of 28,500 people, of which 700 were identified as a security threat. Cover image | Niels Baars In Xataka | Commercial aviation is based on very old aircraft. The Iran war is going to make it even worse

Ryanair launches an advertisement at the inauguration of its new hangar

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The airline opens in Madrid-Barajas its largest hangar in Europebut he has also taken advantage of the showcase to send a warning to the Government: if airport taxes continue to rise, growth in Spain will continue to fall. The crossing with Aena is still validand the airline seems to have its priorities very clear. new hangar. This week Ryanair opened the doors of its new maintenance center in Madrid-Barajas. With 22,000 square meters and capacity for seven aircraft, it is the largest hangar in its entire European network, an investment of 25 million euros that, according to The company will generate 700 qualified jobs among engineers, mechanics and technical personnel. The space, previously operated by Iberia, brings the total number of Ryanair maintenance lines at the airport itself to eight. The underlying message. The company has also taken advantage of the inauguration to launch a new offensive against the current airport policy. Its CEO, Eddie Wilson, warned that Ryanair’s ability to continue investing and growing in Spain “has practically hit its ceiling”, attributing this to the deterioration of the country’s competitiveness. The event was attended by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who thanked the airline for its commitment to the capital and was in favor of reducing burdens on the operator. Growth. According to Wilson, this summer the airline will barely grow 0.5% in Spain, compared to 11% in Morocco or 9% in Italy, markets that it considers direct competitors of Spanish tourism. Furthermore, the company has already cut three million jobs in two years in the country. For Wilson, the question is simple: “Why invest in additional capacity if prices are going up and you can invest in other places where they are going down?” shared The Spanish. The target of criticism: Aena. The low cost has been in tension with the airport manager for months. Ryanair reproaches that Aena’s last rate increase, 6.5%, already had effects on traffic at regional airportsand warns that the proposal to increase rates by an additional 21% (plus inflation) in the next five years could compromise the competitiveness of the entire network. Wilson pointed out He also stated at the inauguration that large airports such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Malaga and Alicante are going to be expanded “at an exorbitant cost” to, in his opinion, justify these increases, when the growth in traffic could be absorbed without the need for new infrastructure or increased rates. However, Wilson himself recognized to El Español that with Aena “they work well operationally.” Pressure. The inauguration of the hangar comes at a time of strong tension between Ryanair and the Spanish administrations on several fronts. The most recent confrontation is the fine of 107 million euros imposed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs for the collection of hand luggagewhich the airline considers illegal and has taken to the European Commission. In this context, Wilson’s speech also works as a pressure lever: the airline remembers its weight (62 million annual passengers, 109 aircraft in 11 bases, a total declared investment of 11,000 million euros in Spain) to demand more favorable conditions. What can happen now. If Aena rates continue to rise, Ryanair has few incentives to grow at regional airports and has hinted that cuts could also come this winter at some large airfields. The opening of the Barajas hangar, and the Seville maintenance centershows that the airline has no intention of leaving Spain, but that it is reorienting where and how much it grows. Cover image | Markus Winkler In Xataka | Global air traffic has a problem: Ukraine and Iran have created a funnel that is driving up prices

Ryanair proposes burying the hatchet with Aena and negotiating the new rates until 2031

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There are many signs that define a toxic relationship. Ryanair and Aena seem to have fully entered into one of them. The Irish company is playing the good cop, bad cop game with the airport manager. But, unlike what usually happens, there is only one player here. One that unfolds and that attacks as soon as it reaches out. What happens? That Ryanair “would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Aena and agree on competitive incentive programs, available to all airlines, that would stimulate traffic.” That is, a hand extended after continued attacks on Aena, the company in charge of managing the vast majority of Spanish airports. There is only one problem, that proposal must be found in the fifth paragraph of a statement that repeats over and over again the position that the airline has taken regarding airport taxes in our country: “Aena’s excessive rates are diverting that traffic towards more competitive airports in other parts of Europe.” What is Ryanair talking about? In its latest publication, Ryanair points to a Aena statement of February 25, 2025 in which the company noted that “passenger traffic at Aena airports in Spain grew by 3.9% in 2025, with 321.6 million passengers.” And not only that, the company assures that in 2026 it will grow another 1.3% to reach around 326 million passengers. But the true origin of the last exchange of statements was found a few days ago. On February 18Aena presented its proposal for the coming years with an average annual increase in airport taxes of 3.8% between 2027 and 2031. The increase will result in an increase of 0.43 euros per passenger, according to Aena. The company assures that these increases are essential to undertake an investment wave of 12,888 million euros with a great boost from the Canarian airports that should receive investments worth 1.8 billion euros. very hard. “The Aena monopoly statement of Wednesday, February 25, is astonishing for its inability to understand how to take advantage of Spain’s airport infrastructure to boost traffic, tourism and employment,” is how the press release that Ryanair has distributed begins to explain its position regarding Aena’s latest communication. And once again, the company focuses on airport taxes in regional enclaves. “Aena’s DORA III proposal (where investments are collected in the coming years) It is exactly what you would expect from a protected monopoly: defending itself, blaming others and ignoring the damage caused by its own pricing policy. With the DORA III proposals, Aena plans to increase airport taxes by 21% without taking inflation into account. “This will be another nail in the coffin of regional connectivity in Spain for the next five years, unless the CNMC and the Government of Spain intervene and reject this failed monopolistic strategy.” an open door. However, the Irish company opens the door to a new negotiation with Aena despite the fact that this company “has closed the door”, in the words of Ryanair. The airline assures that it intends for part of the 300 new aircraft that will arrive in its fleet to be destined for one of the Spanish airports. And the company is once again focusing on smaller airports. In 2025 they carried out a restructuring that has left some of them, such as Valladolid, completely empty. They claim that their traffic has increased by 11% in Morocco, 9% in Italy and 60% in Albania. Despite this, they do not point out that even with their partial withdrawal have increased their presence in Spain by 100,000 places. And although its 0.5% growth is small, it is also misleading. It has moved more passengers than ever in our country and some withdrawals are understood only by commercial agreements that, in reality, are flights subsidized by local entities. Something that Morocco applies but that also have been using some town halls in Spain. Interested. What seems evident is that Spain continues to be one of the main airport markets in Europe. Last year, our country reached a new tourist record: 97 million. And the great objective is to achieve break the barrier of 100 million tourists this same year. Aena is aware that tourism is a powerful weapon when it comes to putting pressure on airlines with annual increases. Maurici Lucena, president of Aena, pointed to a lack of responsibility on the part of the airlines and to acting “in bad faith” when they criticize the increases, in words reported by EFE. For its part, the Association of Airlines (ALA) presses for the CNMC to reduce Aena’s proposal which they call a “high rate” while they have presented a proposal that advocates lowering rates by 4.8%. The gap between both proposals is 4,950 million euros. Photo | Xataka In Xataka |

If the question is how much money Ryanair can ask you for for messing up on a flight, the answer is: a lot.

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Making a mess on a plane is expensive, very expensive. At the beginning of the week, Ryanair fined one of its passengers a fine of 15,000 euros as compensation for damages and losses on a flight. The decision comes at the hands of the Dublin Court, and although the amount is one of the highest in recent years, it is far from being an exception. what has happened. According to Ryanair in his statementone of its passengers forced the plane he was traveling on to divert to Porto, after attacking passengers and crew on a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote. No specific details about the attack itself have emerged, but the Dublin Court has imposed a penalty of 15,000 in damages on the accused. The lawsuit was filed in January 2025, Ryanair is not fooling around. In this case, it was Dublin that imposed the amount of the penalty, but the airline has a rigid policy of sanctions for non-exemplary passengers. In June 2025, the company warned about fixed fines of 500 euros for any passenger expelled for misconduct before the flight. In the event that the flight has already started and results in a forced diversion, the policy is clear: legal persecution. It is not the first fine very high. Ryanair has been able to ban passengers for five years and obtain compensation for damages due to value of 3,000 euros on recent Berlin-Marrakech flights. He also managed to get sanctioned 2,000 euros to a passenger who decided to smoke on the plane. The measure fits within the framework of a company with a clear policy: squeeze every penny out of each clientwith a solid margin thanks to its aggressive strategies. The finer, fined. Ryanair has just received one of the highest fines in recent years (not the largest, estimated at more than 100,000 dollars and a lifetime ban by Jet2), but it is also the one that has the record of having suffered the highest fine to an airline by the Government of Spain. A profitable business model, focused on squeezing every penny from its passengers, and a clear policy regarding inappropriate behavior: pay. In Xataka | Spain and Ryanair are in a legal battle over the charge for hand luggage. Ryanair’s best ally: Europe

Ryanair and the rest of the low-cost airlines have been charging for your carry-on suitcase for years. The European Union is tired of it

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It is no surprise that the main business of “cheap airlines” is precisely charge you for cabin luggage. A cheap Ryanair or EasyJet ticket can easily be double the price if you include a small suitcase to carry in the cabin. And from Europe I want this to end nowboth by users and legislators. not so fast. In this regard, the European Parliament has voted in favor to allow all passengers to carry one cabin bag of up to 7 kg free of charge, in addition to their personal bag or backpack. The measure has sparked criticism from low-cost airlines, since they rate it ‘existential threat’ to its business model, and that could raise ticket prices by up to 25%, according to EasyJet. The trigger. The European legislative proposal establishes that any passenger may carry at no additional cost one personal item plus one piece of hand luggage of up to 7 kg and with combined dimensions of 100 cm. This would affect all flights to or from EU airports operated by EU airlines. Of course, it should be noted that this bill must still go through the European Council before becoming law. Baggage and margins. Bag fees have become a great source of income for low-cost airlines. Jay Sorensen, airfare expert at consulting firm IdeaWorks, counted to the Financial Times that European airlines raised $16 billion in 2025 just for baggage, of which 60% went to low-cost airlines. Although these fees are not usually broken down individually, Sorensen estimates that they represent almost a fifth of the total revenue of low-cost airlines. Reaction of the industry. Kenton Jarvis, CEO of EasyJet, has qualified the “lunatic idea” proposal and warns that the additional costs “would have to be passed on” to all passengers through higher prices, even for those traveling without luggage. On the other hand, József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, account to FT that consumers are “much smarter” and “are able to navigate the current system of optional tariffs.” For its part, Airlines 4 Europe, the industry lobby, has presented a survey according to which half of passengers would prefer to pay lower fares and keep suitcases as an optional extra. Margins. The low cost model is based on eliminating minutes on the ground and fuel costs. Augusto Ponte, European director of the consulting firm Alton Aviation, account FT that if each passenger carried between 2 and 4 additional kg, a plane with 150 people would have 500 kg extra weight, which translates into between 15 and 20 additional euros of fuel per hour of flight. According to Ponte, for an airline like EasyJet, which flies approximately one million hours annually, that would mean more than €28 million extra per year in operating costs, approximately a tenth of its total profit. In addition, the executive says that 150 additional suitcases in the cabin per flight would cause delays of about 10 minutes in each boarding, not counting the time necessary to relocate the excess in the hold. Ponte assures that, in short-haul aircraft that make six flights a day, this would be equivalent to one hour less operation per plane each day. Consumer protection. Beuc, the European consumer association, strongly supports the proposals of Parliament and even proposes raising the permitted weight to 10 kg. Agustín Reyna, its general director, argues that passengers “expect their hand luggage to be included in the price of the ticket” and that forcing them to pay turns luggage into “a luxury item.” For his part, Andrey Novakov, the Bulgarian MEP who is leading the parliamentary negotiation on these rules, has declared that the goal is “to strive for clearer and more predictable rules for airlines and a stronger aviation sector, but never at the expense of passengers.” Cover image | Gabor Koszegi In Xataka | When Ryanair CEO went to a restaurant he was charged for two extras: “priority seating” and “legroom”

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