Ryanair has called on the German government to urgently cut its air access costs and reverse its recently 24% rise in aviation tax.
A failure to do so, the airline warned, could lose 1.5 million seats – or 10% of Ryanair’s German capacity.
Ryanair said in a statement: “Whilst other EU markets, such as Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, are cutting or abolishing their Aviation Taxes, Germany’s Aviation Tax, which recently increased by 24%, is the second highest in the EU and is damaging Germany’s air travel industry. Germany’s air travel recovery lags far behind the rest of Europe at just 82% of its pre-Covid levels – the lowest in Europe.”
Ryanair’s airline CEO Eddie Wilson said: “Germany’s air travel market is broken and needs an urgent fix. Germany has only recovered 82% of its pre-Covid traffic which is by far the worst performance of any EU State. As a result of these high Govt taxes/fees (the highest in Europe), and Lufthansa’s high-fare monopoly, German citizens/visitors now pay the highest air fares in Europe.
“Ryanair again calls on the German Govt. to cut its very high aviation taxes and fees. If these very high taxes are not reduced, Ryanair will cut another 1.5m seats from its German capacity (-10%) for Summer 2025. These reductions will further damage inbound tourism, and Germany’s post-Covid recovery, whilst other competitor EU States, with much lower or zero aviation taxes/fees, enjoy the benefit of traffic growth which is being switched from high cost uncompetitive Germany.”
In addition to scrapping the Aviation Tax, Ryanair has also called on Germany to urgently reduce its ATC (air traffic control) charges, which it says have doubled since 2019, and defer the 50% increase in Security Fees, scheduled for January 2025.
“These very high Government fees continue to damage German air travel, tourism, its economy, and consumers, and only serve to prop up Lufthansa’s high-fare monopoly. If Germany won’t reduce these high and damaging air travel taxes/fees, then Ryanair will further cut capacity by 1.5m seats in Germany for Summer 2025 and switch this capacity to other lower cost EU countries like Italy, Poland, Spain, and Portugal,” the airline said.
