Ryanair has announced it will cease flying to and from the Azores from next March, blaming “high airport fees” set by the French airport monopoly ANA” and “Portuguese Government inaction” and saying it will redeploy flights to lower cost airports around Europe.
Europe’s largest low-cost airline said it will stop servicing the popular Portuguese-controlled archipelago, in the mid-Atlantic, from March 29; blaming French airport “monopoly” ANA for a 120% post-Covid increase in airport charges and Portugal’s government for a €2 travel tax “at a time when other EU States are abolishing travel taxes to secure capacity growth”.
Ryanair warned the move will lose the Azores six tourist plane routes and 400,000 visitors per year.
Explaining its decision, Ryanair said in a statement: “Sadly, the ANA monopoly has no plan to grow low-fare connectivity to the Azores. The ANA monopoly faces no competition in Portugal – which has allowed it to extract monopoly profits, by raising Portuguese airport fees without penalty – at a time when competing EU airports are lowering fees to stimulate growth. The Portuguese Govt. must intervene and ensure that its airports which are a critical part of national infrastructure – especially in an island economy like the Azores – are used to benefit the Portuguese people, rather than benefitting a French airport monopoly.
“The competitiveness of remote European regions – such as the Azores – is being damaged by the EU’s anti-competitive enviro taxes. EU ETS is levied on intra-European flights only, while more polluting long-haul flights to the US and Middle East are excluded. Rather than making European aviation more competitive (by reducing ETS), the EU has expanded ETS to cover remote regions like the Azores – while exempting non-EU competitors like Turkey and Morocco. Ryanair again calls on Ursula von der Leyen to ensure there is a level playing field on EU environmental taxes, by immediately bringing ETS rates into line with CORSIA.”
Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jason McGuinness said: “We are disappointed that the French airport monopoly ANA continues to raise Portuguese airport fees to line its pockets, at the expense of Portuguese tourism and jobs – particularly on the Portuguese islands. As a direct result of these rising costs, we have been left with no alternative other than to cancel all Azores flights from 29 March 2026 onwards and relocate this capacity to lower cost airports elsewhere in the extensive Ryanair Group network across Europe.
“This loss of low fare connectivity to the Azores is direct result of the French monopoly airport operator – VINCI – imposing excessive airport charges across Portugal – which have risen by up to 35% since Covid – and the anti-competitive enviro taxes imposed by the EU, which exempt more polluting long haul flights to the US and Middle East, at the expense of EU remote regions such as the Azores. After 10 years of year-round Ryanair operations, one of Europe’s most remote regions will now lose direct low-fare flights to London, Brussels, Lisbon, and Porto due to ANA’s high airport fees and Portuguese Government inaction.“
