Ruthless Ryanair axes all flights from one of Europe's 'most expensive' airports
Ryanair has axed all of its flights from Maastricht Airport in the Netherlands, as it continues to battle against aviation levies across Europe.
The budget airline recently announced that all of its routes from the Dutch airport will be cancelled from October 26. Ryanair criticised the airport's costs and the country's rising aviation taxes, branding Maastricht one of Europe's 'most expensive' airports and arguing that these factors will 'irreparably damage Dutch connectivity'.
Maastricht Airport introduced an eco-tax back in 2021, which resulted in Ryanair facing a bill of almost €30 per passenger. The mass cancellation will see routes to popular destinations such as Alicante, Bari, Girona, Porto, and Zadar removed - resulting in the loss of 150,000 seats per annum, as well as five direct connections.
Ryanair's CCO Jason McGuinness expressed disappointment with the decision, blaming Maastricht Airport for its 'soaring' taxes which have increased by 275 per cent in the last four years. "Ryanair continues to grow traffic (this year from 200m to 206m) by offering unbeatable low fares to customers across Europe at airports that have low access costs," he stated.
"Maastricht's sky-high costs are damaging its connectivity. [This is] evidenced by the Airport's failure to recover its traffic post-Covid, lagging far behind the rest of Europe at just 50 per cent of pre-Covid traffic in 2024 – a figure set to fall even further following Ryanair's exit," reports the Mirror.
Ryanair has a history of pulling flights from airports in response to unwanted fees. Earlier this year, the airline announced an 18 per cent reduction in its summer traffic in Spain, resulting in the loss of 800,000 seats and 12 routes.
It also cancelled all flights to and from Aalborg, after Denmark confirmed a 50DKK (€6.70) fee would be applied to all passengers departing from Denmark, to be paid by airlines.
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