Ryanair is reducing its flight offerings to and from Spain, eliminating 36 routes in response to increased airport charges. The budget airline confirmed it would cut one million passenger seats, escalating its dispute with Spanish airport operator Aena.

This is the second major reduction of Spanish flight routes by Ryanair in 2025.Earlier in the year, the airline cut 13 flight connections to Spain. The latest declaration, made by CEO Eddie Wilson in Madrid, involves cancelling 36 direct connections with regional airports in mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.

The cuts represent a 41 percent reduction of capacity at regional airports on the iberian Peninsula (600,000 fewer seats) and a 10 percent reduction in the Canary Islands (400,000 fewer seats).

Ryanair will suspend all flights to vigo starting January 1st, 2026, and to tenerife North Airport at the start of this yearS winter season. The airline is also closing its two-aircraft base in Santiago de Compostela, resulting in a loss of $200 million in investment and an 80 percent reduction in seats.

The airline had already fully withdrawn from Valladolid and Jerez airports in January.

Regional Airports Affected

“We have 300 new planes to allocate to competitive airports, and we are taking them to other countries such as Morocco and Italy,”

Ryanair is also reducing capacity at other regional airports: Zaragoza (down 45 percent), Santander (down 38 percent), Asturias (down 16 percent), and Vitoria (down 2 percent).

In the Canary Islands, besides Tenerife North, the airline is also reducing capacity at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote.

Ryanair’s decision is a direct response to Aena’s announcement that it will increase airport charges by 6.5 percent by 2026, to €11.03 per passenger, which Ryanair describes as “unjustifiable.”

The airline has been in a dispute with Aena for some time over these airport fees, which led to slashing 800,000 passenger seats on Spanish flight routes earlier this year. in total, this amounts to a reduction of almost 2 million seats on Ryanair flights to and from Spain in 2025.

Ryanair has criticized Aena for concentrating 85 percent of its traffic in 10 airports out of a network of 46 in Spain, claiming it does not want to invest in the rest. CEO Eddie Wilson has predicted that “in the next five or ten years, many of these airports will close.”