FLIGHT cancellations have dominated the news recently with Ryanair in particular axing millions of seats.
As a result of rising air tax, budget-friendly Ryanair has cut a huge amount of routes over the last year – here’s every destination that’s been impacted as a result.
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Greece
In its most recent update, Ryanair announced it would be closing its base at Thessaloniki in Greece.
At the same time, the airline announced it would be scrapping off-season flights to Chania and Heraklion in Crete and will reduce its Athens services too.
All of this will result in 700,000 fewer seats on sale this winter which works out as a 45 per cent reduction, and resulting in 12 routes being scrapped in total.
Ryanair said that the rising cost of airport charges is the reason behind the reduction in flights.
Spain
Last summer, Spain was hit hard with cancellations as Ryanair announced it would be cutting two million seats across the country.
The destinations where the airline has closed operations and ceased flights to were Asturias, Vigo, Valladolid, Jerez and Tenerife (North).
At other holiday spots in Spain, Ryanair significantly reduced its flights – this includes Santiago de Compostela, Girona, Vitoria, Zaragoza and Santander.
This is in response to Aena – the state-controlled airport operator in the country – increasing its fees for airlines.
The operator has proposed an increase in passenger fees, meaning airlines would be paying 21 per cent more from 2027 to 2031.
Portugal
In March, Ryanair scrapped all of its flights to the Azores, a destination often compared to Hawaii.
From Mary 29, Ryanair stopped all services to and from the Azores meaning that six different routes have been scrapped.
This has impacted around 400,000 passengers who visit the islands every year.
Ryanair’s CCO Jason McGuinness said: “As a direct result of rising costs, we have been left with no alternative other than to cancel all Azores flights from 29 March 2026 onwards.”
Germany
While no routes have been completely axed, Ryanair has dropped 24 services to and from Germany from its schedule.
These destinations include Hamburg, Memmingen, Baden-Württemberg, Cologne, Frankfurt-Hahn, Dortmund, Dresden and Leipzig.
Ryanair also revealed plans to close its Berlin hub and slash its 2026 winter timetable to the capital by half.
The airline confirmed it would move seven aircraft to alternative locations.
Passenger figures will as a result drop from 4.5million to 2.2million annually.
Ryanair DAC CEO Eddie Wilson said: “We regret to announce this planned closure of our 7 aircraft Berlin base from October 24, 2026, but we have no alternative following the Airport’s latest 10 per cent fee increase to its already high airport fees.
“This comes on top of the 50 per cent increase in Berlin’s airport fees since 2019.”
France
Ryanair cut many services to France in 2025 – with the loss of 25 routes and some 750,000 seats last winter.
The airline decided to drop services completely to both Strasbourg and Brive.
It had previously axed flights to Bergerac in the Dordogne region, but restarted them in alignment with the summer schedule.
Brussels
In Brussels, Ryanair has axed 20 routes and cut one million seats across Brussels-Zaventem and Brussels South Charleroi airports.
These one million seats will be scrapped to and from Brussels from the 2026/27 winter schedule, a reduction of 22 per cent.
This affects 20 flights routes with five aircraft based at the airport removed.
The airline said the cuts were due to the rise in air passenger tax being introduced in Belgium.
From 2027, the tax on all passenger flights will increase to €10 (£8.70).