Ryanair Spain Flights Cut: 1.2 Million Seats Reduced

Ryanair is cutting 1.2 million seats from regional Spain for Summer 2026, a 10% reduction driven by Aena’s fee hikes and a dispute over bag fines. The move closes four airports to the airline and shifts capacity to larger hubs and other countries.

Seats cut from regional Spain for Summer 2026: 1.2 million ·
Percentage reduction: 10% ·
Bases closed: Santiago de Compostela ·
Airports losing all Ryanair flights: Vigo, Tenerife North, Asturias

The table below summarises the key metrics of the cuts.

Why is Ryanair cutting flights to Spain?

Aena’s airport fee increases

Ryanair has repeatedly pointed to Aena (Spain’s airport authority) as the culprit. Aena proposed a 6.5% fee increase for 2026, bringing the charge to €11.03 per passenger from March 2026, as reported by The Times. Ryanair argues that this hike makes dozens of regional routes unprofitable.

Illegal bag fines dispute

Beyond fees, Ryanair cites “illegal bag fines” imposed by Spanish airports – a reference to a long-running row over baggage handling charges. The airline’s Director of Communications said in a statement that these “Bustinduys” (a branding term for Aena’s baggage service) amount to a “monopoly surcharge” that forces Ryanair to pass costs on to passengers or exit routes.

Monopoly concerns

Ryanair calls Aena a “monopoly operator” that controls almost all Spanish airports. Aena responded via Aviation Week that Spanish airport charges remain “among the most competitive in Europe.” The regulator’s 2026 price guide, published on January 1, 2026, confirms the new fees.

The implication: if Aena holds firm, Ryanair’s walkout becomes a structural shift for regional travel.

Is Ryanair slashing flights to Spain due to high airport fees?

Aena’s fee structure

Aena’s charges are government-regulated and applied per passenger. The €11.03 figure represents a 6.5% increase from 2025 rates. Aena’s official price page outlines a complex framework of landing, parking, and passenger charges – but the headline increase is what Ryanair targets.

Ryanair’s response

The airline explicitly attributes every seat cut to this fee rise. In a corporate statement on October 8, 2025, Ryanair said: “Spain’s Government has failed to stop Aena’s monopoly fee rises or Bustinduys’ illegal bag fines – so we are reducing our Summer 2026 schedule to Regional Spain by 1.2m seats.”

Comparison with other airlines

So far, no other major carrier has announced parallel cuts, but Ryanair is the largest operator in regional Spain. Aviation Week reported that Ryanair plans to shift capacity to larger Spanish hubs (Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga) and to international markets like Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Sweden and Hungary – suggesting the cuts are a strategic reallocation, not a total withdrawal.

What this means: Ryanair’s threat to cut further seats if fees persist is credible given its cost structure.

Which Spanish airports are affected by Ryanair’s flight cuts?

Airports with full closure

• Santiago de Compostela: Ryanair closed its base and stopped all flights as of September 2025 (Reuters).
• Vigo: Complete cessation of Ryanair services (Ryanair Corporate).
• Tenerife North: All flights cancelled (Reuters).
• Asturias: Ryanair confirmed all flights to/from Asturias Airport are cancelled (Ryanair Corporate).

Airports with reduced capacity

Other regional airports – including Santander, Almería, Castellón, Girona, Reus, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zaragoza – will see a 10% frequency cut across the board, per Aviation Week. Ryanair’s larger bases (Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia) are not affected by the regional cuts – in fact, they may gain capacity as flights are shifted away from smaller airports.

Regional Spain impact

The harm is concentrated in the north-west (Galicia, Asturias) and the Canary Islands. Reuters reported that the winter 2025/26 reduction alone – 1 million seats – was split 600,000 from mainland regional airports and 400,000 from the Canary Islands. That signals a disproportionate blow to tourism-dependent communities in Tenerife and the northern coast.

The pattern: local economies in those regions bear the brunt of Ryanair’s standoff with the regulator.

How many seats is Ryanair cutting from Spain for summer 2026?

Total seats cut

Ryanair’s official announcement pegs the figure at 1.2 million seats from its Summer 2026 schedule to regional Spain (Ryanair Corporate).

Percentage reduction

This represents a 10% reduction in the airline’s overall Spanish capacity, as noted by Reuters.

Comparison to previous cuts

The Summer 2026 cuts come on top of earlier reductions: for winter 2025/26, Ryanair already cut up to 1 million seats (a 16% drop in regional traffic, per Reuters). Combined, Ryanair has removed approximately 2 million seats from its Spanish network across the two seasons. The Financial Times reported on 11 September 2025 that Ryanair was prepared to cut “a further 1 million seats” if Aena did not reverse its fee increase – meaning the 1.2 million figure may not be the final number.

When will Ryanair’s flight cuts to Spain take effect?

Summer 2026 schedule changes

The 1.2 million seat reduction applies to the Summer 2026 schedule, which runs from late March to October 2026 (Ryanair Corporate). Flights in that period will be fewer, especially from the affected airports.

Immediate effects on winter 2025

The winter 2025/26 schedule already absorbed a 1 million seat cut, effective from September 2025. Reuters reported that the reduction included 600,000 mainland seats and 400,000 Canary Islands seats.

Base closures timeline

• 3 September 2025: Ryanair announces closure of Santiago de Compostela base and cancellation of flights to Vigo and Tenerife North (Reuters).
• 11 September 2025: Financial Times reports Ryanair prepared to cut 1 million more seats (Financial Times).
• 8 October 2025: Ryanair officially announces the 1.2 million seat reduction for Summer 2026 (Ryanair Corporate).
• Summer 2026: Reduced schedules take effect.

The catch: the base closures are irreversible in the short term; even if fees are rolled back, restoring service will take months.

The pattern is clear: Ryanair is using its scale to pressure Aena into a fee reversal. But with the Summer 2026 schedule locked in and base closures already executed, the damage to regional connectivity is real. For travelers in Galicia, Asturias, and Tenerife, the next summer will mean fewer direct flights, longer journeys, and likely higher fares on alternative carriers. The ball is now in Aena’s court: freeze fees, or watch Ryanair take its seats – and its passengers – elsewhere.