It’s safe to say that one of the UK’s most popular budget airlines cancelling millions of seats to locations across Europe is big travel news.
Ryanair seems to be in demolition mode – axing dozens of locations from its flight schedule and potentially disrupting thousands of passengers’ holiday plans.
Recently, the airline announced that it would be scrapping routes to major destinations in Germany and Spain. And now, CEO Michael O’Leary has confirmed that there will be further scaling back in France.
This comes just a few months after Ryanair cancelled all services to three French destinations – a move that is now evidently part of the airline’s massive pushback against air tax costs.
So, if you’re planning to travel to Europe anytime soon with the budget airline, it might be helpful to know exactly which destinations are no longer available to you.
Let’s break it down.
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Spain
The first wave of significant cuts took place earlier in the year when Ryanair made the decision to axe millions of seats to destinations across Spain.
The Irish airline announced that it would be closing operations and ceasing flights to these airports:
- Santiago de Compostela
- Vigo
- Valladolid
- Tenerife (North)
Rising tension over increased airport charges has massively affected relations with Aena, a state-owned Spanish operator – leading to the budget airline taking a number of measures to reduce its presence in the region.
In fact, CEO Michael O’Leary, can’t stop making threats to cut more flights to the popular summer location.
The businessman told the Financial Times back in September: ‘If the costs in regional Spain are too high, I will fly elsewhere. We are better off flying at the same cost to places such as Palma [on the island of Mallorca] than flying to Jerez.’
Germany
In October, Ryanair announced that it would be ditching 24 routes to and from Germany – cutting nearly 800,000 seats in total.
Directly impacting the 2025 winter season, it was revealed that nine airports would be affected by the cuts – including two major cities popular with tourists.
In a statement, Ryanair accused the German government of jeopardising ‘connectivity, jobs, and tourism’ in the region by failing to address high aviation taxes and rising operational costs.
France
Now, France has already been hit by Ryanair cuts in 2025 – with the loss of 25 routes and 750,000 seats in France this winter following the decision to ditch all services to Brive, Bergerac and Strasbourg.
But now, it’s been revealed that further cancellations may be on the horizon.
Chief Commercial Officer Jason McGuinness has confirmed that ‘Ryanair will leave French regional airports in the summer of 2026.’
No official destinations have been named yet, but this marks another clear fracture between the airline and the European hotspot.
Shortly after the airline’s actions earlier in the year – which caused a 13% reduction in its capacity in France – O’Leary sat down with French newspaper Le Parisien to explain his reasoning regarding the recent cuts.
‘You have this crazy situation where your government increases the solidarity tax on airline tickets (TSBA), which has gone from 2.63 euros to 7.40 euros per ticket. 180% increase! It’s totally unjustified,’ the CEO stated.
He went on to refer to commercial flying as a ‘rotten sector that does not bring in a lot of money,’ accused the French government of viewing airlines as their personal ‘tax collectors,’ and even made the claim that ‘French air traffic control is by far the least effective in Europe.’
Long story short – Ryanair is not best pleased with France right now. So, it’s highly probable we’ll continue to see cuts like these well into 2026.
Ryanair rolls out controversial boarding pass change
Flyers have been hit with another blow from the budget airline – from November 12, all Ryanair passengers will no longer be able to use a printed boarding pass.
The Irish carrier is switching to digital – aka paperless – boarding passes, meaning the days of downloading and printing your ticket are, as of now, over.
This marks a major change for passengers who’ve spent decades relying on the old system. But, for anyone worried about their phone’s dodgy battery, you won’t be caught out at the airport if you aren’t able to show your Ryanair boarding pass on your mobile.
CEO Michael O’Leary has stated: ‘As long as you’ve checked in before you got to the airport, we’ll reissue a paper boarding pass at the airport free of charge. But you have to have checked in before you got to the airport.’
Some customers have expressed concern over their lack of tech knowledge, while another rather frustrated passenger posting on social media: ‘Just Boycott them, go easyJet, Jet2 instead.’