A press release from Ryanair last month stated that Dublin Airport has lost 17 routes and 19 environmentally friendly aircraft due to a 45pc increase in costs by Dublin Airport Authority.
However, data suggests Ryanair plans to operate 0.7pc fewer flights between November 2023 and March 2024 compared to the previous year.
During the summer season of 2023, Ryanair operated 9.2pc more departures compared to the same period in 2022, with 13-14pc more flights during the peak months of July and August.
Some months even see an increase. Ryanair will operate more flights in December 2023 and March 2024 compared to the corresponding months in 2022 and 2023.
Ryanair will be moving its newest generation 737 MAX 8-200 aircraft to other locations, which will be replaced by a similar number of 737-800 aircraft. As a result, the number of available seats is expected to fall by around 1.7pc.
While Ryanair is dropping 18 routes from Dublin this winter compared to last winter, it is also adding five new routes, resulting in a net reduction of 13 destinations served from Dublin in February 2024 compared to February 2023. The full list of cancelled routes is: Asturias, Billund, Bournemouth, Carcassonne, Castellón, Genoa, Klagenfurt, Kosice, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Palanga, Palermo, Plovdiv, Santiago, Sibiu, Suceava, and Szczecin.
Negotiations between Ryanair and the airports involved may still lead to the resumption of some of the dropped routes in the future.
While reducing certain routes, Ryanair is increasing weekly frequencies on 32 routes, including additional flights to destinations like Cardiff, Malaga, Beauvais and Alicante. It is also returning to Brussels after (you’ve guessed it) a spat over airport charges.
