Will Ryanair's 'war' with Aena impact flights to and from Malaga Airport?

Ryanair's move to cut 800,000 seats from its offer of summer flights to Spain has sparked concern on the Costa del Sol. Despite the airline dropping 12 routes in a move protesting against Spanish airport operator Aena and its "excessive" airport fees, Ryanair is calling for calm.

Elena Cabrera, Ryanair's country manager for Spain and Portugal, pointed out the importance of Malaga Airport in the carrier's network and said they are maintaining their commitment to the destination, where they even plan to grow at a rate of 7% in summer. "The Costa del Sol airport will continue to be one of the pillars of our activity in Spain," Cabrera added.

In 2024, Ryanair carried the most passengers on the Costa del Sol, transporting 7.6 million passengers. The figure represents 30.5% of the total number of passengers who passed through Malaga Airport last year, in what was the best year in the airport's 105-year history.

Cabrera said the Irish airline expects to carry some six million passengers in the 2025 summer season, a 7% increase compared to last year. "Despite the cuts of 800,000 seats that mainly affect regional airports due to Aena's disproportionate taxes, Ryanair will continue to grow by 5% this year at Spain's major airports," she said.

Last year, the company forecast carrying 5.1 million passengers on the Costa del Sol during high season, from the end of April until the last weekend of October. The historic figure involved flying passengers to 90 destinations to which the carrier flies from Malaga Airport on 16 aircraft based at these facilities, 11 of them of a new generation that reduce CO2 emissions by 20% and noise pollution by 50%.

At the time, Cabrera pointed out that "since April, flights from Malaga are three percentage points above the average occupancy of the airline's network in Europe", and that the average figure is 94%, which means that the airline's planes on routes to or from the Costa del Sol fill 97% of their seats. "It is a destination that always works very well," Cabrera added.

Malaga is therefore left out of the fight Ryanair has started with Aena in Spain for what it considers to be "abusive airport taxes" and which has resulted in the carrier dropping 12 routes routes and 800,000 seats for its 2025 summer offer.

It will cease operations at two airports and reducing air traffic at five others, due to a lack of incentives at regional airports and "excessive" taxes applied by Aena. Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson described Aena's measures as "ineffective" and not supporting the government's objectives of achieving more traffic at Spain's regional airports. Ryanair announced it will cease operations at Jerez and Valladolid, withdraw an aircraft based at Santiago de Compostela and reduce air traffic at Vigo by 61%; Santiago, by 28%; Zaragoza, by 20%; Asturias, by 11%; and Santander, by 5%.

Aena dismissed Ryanair's claims as "spurious", considering that with the announcement of the cuts it wants to "put pressure on institutions". "Aena regrets that Ryanair uses spurious arguments that do not correspond to the reality of airport rates in Spain to confuse citizens and shamelessly put pressure on national and regional public institutions," a statement from Aena said.