The budget airline has announced 12 routes will be cancelled
A Ryanair plane(Image: MEN/Sean Hansford)
Ryanair has announced the closure of its Thessaloniki base and reductions in capacity at Athens Airport for the winter 2026 season. The changes will result in the loss of 700,000 seats and 12 routes.
Sharing the news on Friday, May 8, Ryanair said: “The Greek Government made the wise decision to reduce the Airport Development Fee (ADF) by 75% (from €12 to €3 per passenger) from November 2024, which should have directly stimulated year-round connectivity and tourism across Greece.
“However, most Greek airports, particularly those run by Fraport Greece, refused to pass the tax cut onto passengers. Since then, Fraport Greece have continued to increase charges, which are now +66% above their pre-Covid levels. Likewise, Athens Airport will hike charges this Winter.”
Ryanair said Greek airports are no longer competitive in off-peak season and winter months. On its website, the budget airline said it has been left with “no choice” but to reallocate capacity to more competitive countries like Albania, regional Italy and Sweden.
The reduced Winter 2026 schedule for Greece will result in no Ryanair flights to Chania and Heraklion, and the following routes cancelled: Thessaloniki to Berlin, Chania, Frankfurt-H, Gothenburg, Heraklion, Niederrhein, Poznan, Stockholm, Venice-T, Zagreb, and Athens to Milan-M, and Chania to Paphos.
Ryanair Chief Commercial Officer, Jason McGuinness said: “These preventable traffic reductions are a direct result of the airports’ failure to pass through the ADF reduction, particularly in Thessaloniki where the Fraport Greece monopoly have hiked airport charges +66% since 2019.”
He added: “Unfortunately, there will now be less low-cost air fares for Thessaloniki’s citizens and visitors, and year-round tourism will be harmed as a result.
“There is an opportunity for Greece to secure significant year-round traffic growth however, this investment can only be realised once the German-run Fraport Greece monopoly fully passes through the Greek Government’s sensible tax cut from November 2024 – allowing airlines such as Ryanair, to deliver the connectivity required to reduce Greece’s chronic seasonality.”
The announcement comes after Ryanair said it intends to close another one of its European bases on October 24 2026. It will reduce the number of flights it operates to and from the German city of Berlin by 50% in its winter schedule.
All seven Berlin-based aircraft will be reallocated to lower-cost airports in other EU states that have abolished aviation taxes like Sweden, Slovakia, Albania and Italy.
Ryanair said: “This is a direct result of Berlin Airport’s recent notice that it will again raise fees by another 10% from 2027 to 2029 when its already high airport fees have increased by 50% since Covid, even as Berlin’s traffic collapsed by 30% from 36m in 2019 to 26m in 2025.”
On its website, the airline said: “German aviation policy has failed its citizens as it relies on high aviation taxes and excessive airport costs to combat hopeless inefficiency, evidenced by the fact that since 2019 Germany’s harmful aviation tax has more than doubled from €7.30 to €15.50 per passenger and German security fees have doubled from €10 in 2024 to €20 by Jan 2028.”
Ryanair said that instead of introducing lower-cost traffic recovery incentives for airlines to recover this traffic collapse, Berlin Airport has decided to further increase its already high prices by another 10% making Berlin “hopelessly uncompetitive” versus competitor European airports who are cutting fees to grow.
