THE budget airline will axe two million seats across its 2026 winter schedule.
Ryanair cited high jet fuel costs as the reason for the reduction – and it has warned of rising prices too.
The airline announced that it has cut estimates for the expected number of passengers it will carry between April 2026 and March 2027.
The number has dropped from 216 million to 214 million.
In a statement, the airline explained that it was “sensible to strategically reduce the group’s exposure to unhedged jet fuel during the unprofitable winter schedule.”
It continued: “Subject to pricing and passenger demand, Ryanair expects this one-off winter schedule cut to reduce [November 2026 – March 2027 losses] by €70 million to €100 million (£85.8million).”
It won’t be the first time Ryanair has cut flights.
As a result of rising air tax, budget-friendly Ryanair has cut a huge amount of routes over the last year.
Lots of the axed routes affected Spain with flights to Vigo, Valladolid, Jerez and Tenerife (North) stopped.
Other places that lost connections through Ryanair were to the Azores in Portugal and Thessaloniki in Greece where the airline closed its base.
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.
In 2025, France lost 25 routes and some 750,000 seats last winter from and completely stopped services completely to Strasbourg and Brive.
In Brussels, Ryanair has axed 20 routes and cut one million seats across Brussels-Zaventem and Brussels South Charleroi airports.
The budget airline also warned that the prices of tickets could rise next year.
Conflict in Iran has caused jet fuel costs to climb due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and it will continue to affect holiday prices.
In a statement, Ryanair said: “If high oil prices continue through to S.27 (summer 2027), Ryanair believes short-haul airfares in Europe will increase materially to reflect higher oil prices as some less well-hedged competitors will struggle to maintain capacity or even survive this coming winter season.”
Ryanair said it currently hedges fuel (which means it pays a set price).
The airline added that 80 per cent of its jet fuel is hedged through March 2027 at about $67 (£50) a barrel.
The price of jet fuel is around $140 (£103) a barrel.