The Chief Executive Officer of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, has threatened that the airline may cut another one million seats on flights to Spain for the upcoming summer if Aena does not decide to reduce airport fees. O’Leary made this warning in an interview with the ‘Financial Times’, stating that he will return to Madrid in two weeks to “probably” announce the cancellation of another million seats for next summer.
The executive is consequently threatening a new reduction, which would add to the 800,000 seats already cut for this summer and the one million seats that have been cancelled for the imminent winter season in protest against Aena’s 6.5% fee increase.
The airline demands that the Spanish Government—holding a 51% stake in Aena—reduce the amount of airport fees at regional airports, where Ryanair has decided to reduce or eliminate its operations to make them “more competitive.” The Government perceives this Ryanair strategy as a form of “blackmail” and has indicated that the fee increase of €0.68 per passenger is significantly less than the average 21% rise in ticket prices over the past year for Ryanair, which achieved a profit of €820 million in the first quarter of this fiscal year, suggesting that its interest in lowering the fees is merely to “earn even more money.”
The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Pablo Bustinduy, with whom the airline has experienced tense relations since the government department imposed a fine of €107 million for “abusive” practices, has remarked that Ryanair’s strategy is “a campaign of intimidation, shaming, rudeness, and recently, open blackmail against the Spanish Government,” with which they will not be able to “intimidate him.”
The airline announced last week that it will close its base in Santiago and cancel all flights to Vigo and Tenerife North, as well as reduce its capacity in Asturias, Santander, Zaragoza, and the Canary Islands. This adds to cuts already implemented for the summer season at other regional airports such as Jerez and Valladolid, where it has ceased operations. Should no competing airlines take on these seats, the total reduction in air capacity in Spain would amount to 16%.
