Spain’s state-owned airport operator Aena has responded to Ryanair in an ongoing debate about airport fees, declaring: “it would be hard to find in contemporary business history another case such as Ryanair where the dissonance between a company’s operational excellence and the dishonesty of its communications policy is so striking.’
Chairman and CEO of Aena, Maurici Lucena shared: “Ryanair’s impertinence and uninhibited public demands on democratic governments in countries where it operates its flights with the aim of obtaining economic advantages, shed light upon two deep-rooted and unedifying characteristics of this airline company.
The first is that Ryanair has a disturbingly plutocratic idea of the political system, i.e. it seeks to intimidate public opinion by slashing its flights, calls for the resignation of ministers from half of Europe and the president of the European Commission, mocks democratically elected politicians, and calls for laws to be changed in its favour because it believes that government decision-making should bend to the interests of the most economically powerful companies such as Ryanair, instead of protecting the “general interest”. The second characteristic is Ryanair’s communications and institutional relations policy, which is in permanent and deliberate conflict with objective facts and truthfulness”.
The exchange follows Ryanair’s announcement on 3 September to cut one million passenger seats in Spain for the winter 2025 season. The decision, which includes a 41pc reduction in capacity at regional airports and a 10pc cut in the Canary Islands, comes in response to Aena’s proposed 6.62pc increase in airport charges for 2026, amounting to €0.68 per passenger.
Aena’s Chairman and CEO, Maurici Lucena, has issued a scathing rebuke, accusing Ryanair of employing “dishonesty”, “rudeness”, and “blackmail” to secure financial concessions at the expense of Spanish taxpayers.
Lucena’s statement described Ryanair’s tactics as a deliberate attempt to mislead public opinion, highlighting what he called a “disturbing plutocratic conception” of the political system. He argued that Ryanair’s claim of Spain being “closed to tourism” is absurd, given the country’s projection to welcome a record 100m international visitors in 2025. Lucena further noted that the winter season air traffic schedule, spanning October 2025 to March 2026, is set to break records, undermining Ryanair’s narrative of an anti-tourism stance by the Spanish government. He defended Aena’s fee increase as grounded in “solid microeconomic principles” and compliant with Spain’s regulatory framework under Act 18/2014, which prevents arbitrary changes to airport tariffs.
Ryanair’s capacity cuts will see 600,000 fewer seats at regional airports, with significant reductions in Zaragoza (45pc), Santander (38pc), Asturias (16pc), and Vitoria (2pc), alongside the closure of bases in Santiago, Tenerife North, and Vigo. The airline has already withdrawn entirely from Valladolid earlier this year.
Prioritising profit
Lucena dismissed Ryanair’s justification, asserting that the airline is reallocating aircraft to larger Spanish airports or other countries like Italy, Hungary, and Morocco, where it can charge higher ticket prices.
He pointed to a global aircraft delivery delay as a key factor, accusing Ryanair of prioritising profit over regional connectivity. “It is not true that Ryanair is genuinely concerned about the welfare of Spanish citizens,” Lucena stated, citing Ryanair DAC CEO Eddie Wilson’s praise for Castellón Airport, a loss-making facility costing Valencian taxpayers €11.6m in 2023, as evidence of the airline’s true motives.
In a radio interview on Cadena Ser on 4 September, Lucena expressed confidence that other airlines, such as Vueling and Binter Canarias, would fill the void left by Ryanair. He highlighted Vueling’s takeover of the Valladolid-Barcelona route and predicted improved traffic at Vigo, despite Ryanair’s 61pc capacity cut there. Lucena emphasised Aena’s “solidarity” model, where larger airports subsidise smaller ones to ensure territorial cohesion, and insisted that Spain’s airport system would remain robust regardless of Ryanair’s actions.
“The airports will stay open, no matter what Ryanair does,” he declared, rejecting the airline’s “extortionist” strategy.
’70pc empty’
Ryanair, in turn, accused Aena of operating a “monopoly” focused on maximising profits at major hubs like Madrid and Barcelona, at the expense of regional airports, which it claimed are “70pc empty”. Eddie Wilson called on Lucena to “calm down” and lower fees to boost regional traffic, asserting that Ryanair’s proposed growth plan for Spain had been ignored. The airline maintained that its ticket prices dropped by 7pc last year, contrary to Lucena’s claim of a 21pc increase, and denied moving aircraft to higher-fare markets, pointing instead to countries with lower aviation taxes.
The dispute has drawn political attention, with Spanish Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz announcing plans to meet Ryanair’s chairman to enforce labour laws, amid concerns over job losses at affected airports. Regional governments, particularly in Aragón and Cantabria, have expressed dismay, with Aragón’s spokeswoman Mar Vaquero calling Aena’s negotiations a “failure” and Cantabria lamenting the impact on local citizens. Despite the cuts, Ryanair plans a 3pc overall passenger increase by March 2026, redirecting capacity to destinations like Croatia and Sweden.
Aena, which reported record profits of €1.934 billion in 2024, maintains that its fees are among Europe’s most competitive, with regional airport charges for additional passengers at just €2 in 2023, compared to an average of €10.35 in 2025. Lucena warned that yielding to Ryanair’s demands would undermine the financial sustainability of Spain’s airport network, a model globally recognised for its efficiency.
As the war of words continues, the aviation sector watches closely to see if other carriers will seize the opportunities left by Ryanair’s retreat.
