FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Ryanair officially announced the cessation of operations of its base at Thessaloniki's "Macedonia" airport, a development announced in recent days and opposed by local actors.
The low-cost carrier's base will close for the winter season. It currently serves three Ryanair aircraft.
In parallel, the company also announced capacity reductions at Athens airport for the winter of 2026. According to Ryanair, this will result in the loss of 700,000 passenger seats, or 45% fewer, as well as the removal of 12 routes during the winter season.
Ryanair claims that the reduction in air connections is directly linked to the fees that, it says, are imposed by Fraport Greece and Athens Airport. The company says that the Greek government reduced the Airport Development Fee by 75%, from 12 euros to 3 euros per passenger, starting from November 2024, but that most Greek airports have not passed on this reduction to passengers.
According to the company, Fraport Greece has continued to increase fares, which are now over 66% higher than the level before the Covid-19 pandemic. Ryanair says that this is why Greek airports are no longer competitive during the winter season and tourist intermediate periods.
Ryanair's reduced program for the winter of 2026 in Greece foresees the departure of three aircraft from the Thessaloniki base, the reduction of 700 thousand seats, the elimination of 12 routes and the suspension of operations at the airports of Chania and Heraklion during the low tourist season.
The affected routes include flights from Thessaloniki to Berlin, Chania, Frankfurt-Hahn, Gothenburg, Heraklion, Niederrhein, Poznan, Stockholm, Venice-Treviso and Zagreb, as well as the Athens-Milan Bergamo and Chania-Paphos routes.
Ryanair's chief commercial officer, Jason McGuinness, said the closure of the Thessaloniki base and the cuts in Athens would result in the loss of 700,000 seats and 12 routes across Greece. He added that the three planes would be redeployed to Albania, regional Italy and Sweden, where, according to the company, airports have passed on the fiscal cuts of the respective governments to passengers.
According to Ryanair, Greece has the potential to increase air traffic throughout the year, but this can only happen if the tax cuts are fully reflected in the fares paid by airlines and passengers.
Lini një Përgjigje