Aena hits back at Ryanair over Spanish route cuts: “hypocrisy, rudeness and blackmail”

Tensions between Ryanair and Aena have escalated sharply after the Irish carrier announced major cutbacks in Spain over a planned €0.68 rise in airport fees.

Aena’s Chairman and CEO, Maurici Lucena, issued a blistering statement accusing Ryanair of dishonesty and intimidation tactics. “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,” Lucena said.

He accused Ryanair of having “a disturbingly plutocratic idea of the political system,” and of trying to “intimidate public opinion by slashing flights” in order to pressure governments into subsidies.

Lucena dismissed Ryanair’s claim that higher airport charges make Spain “closed to tourism” as “astounding,” noting that Spain is on track for a record 100 million international tourists in 2025. He pointed out that while Aena’s proposed tariff rise is just €0.68 per passenger, Ryanair itself has raised fares by 21% in the last year.

On Ryanair’s threats to pull routes from smaller airports, Lucena said bluntly: “The reality is more prosaic: Ryanair is cancelling them because it is transferring its aircraft to airports where it can set higher prices for its airline tickets and thus earn more money.”

The Aena chief also took aim at what he called Ryanair’s “search for public money” to prop up regional routes, citing the airline’s praise for Castellón Airport, which lost €11.6 million in 2023 as proof of its real priorities.

“No supernatural demonic force compels Ryanair to be one of Aena’s biggest customers,” Lucena declared, rejecting accusations of monopoly abuse and stressing that Spanish airport fees remain “among the most competitive in Europe.”

He concluded with one of his harshest lines yet: “For some time now, Ryanair has sought to take advantage of its high market share in Spain to transform this symbiotic relationship into one of vassalage, which will never be accepted by Aena… It is truly a pity that Ryanair’s communications and institutional relations policy appears to be governed by hypocrisy, rudeness and blackmail.”

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