Ryanair’s EX-YU routes hit by Vienna cuts

Ryanair is cutting several routes from Vienna and withdrawing three of its nineteen based aircraft, demanding that Austria scrap its aviation tax and reduce airport and air traffic control fees. The move follows Wizz Air’s recent decision to close its Vienna base, also citing high operating costs. Several routes to the former Yugoslavia will be affected by these developments. Since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, Vienna Airport has raised its fees by 30%, while the Austrian government has increased the passenger tax on European flights to twelve euros. Despite this, the country’s aviation market has yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, currently standing at 98% of 2019 passenger volumes.

Beginning with the 2026 summer season on March 29, Ryanair will discontinue its seasonal service between Vienna and Split, which had been operated three times per week. The low cost carrier will also reduce frequencies on several other routes from the Austrian capital. Flights between Vienna and Niš will be cut from five to three weekly, while operations to Banja Luka will be reduced from four to two weekly rotations. Services to Zadar will see minor adjustments, with May frequencies trimmed from eight to six per week, before returning to eight weekly for the remainder of the summer. Dubrovnik flights will remain unchanged at five per week. Further adjustments remain possible at this early stage of scheduling.

Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O'Leary, said, “The government's twelve euro air travel tax and excessive access costs have rendered Austria completely uncompetitive. The closure of Wizz Air's five aircraft base underscores that Austria is no longer competitive compared to lower cost EU markets such as Sweden, Hungary and regional Italy, countries that have already abolished their air travel taxes to promote traffic growth”. He added, “Ryanair reiterates its call on the Austrian government to follow the example of other EU countries such as Sweden, Hungary and Italy and abolish this harmful twelve euro air travel tax. If the government abolishes this tax, Ryanair will carry up to twelve million passengers per year in Austria over the next five years, significantly boosting tourism, jobs and economic growth. However, if the government fails to seize this significant opportunity to increase traffic and support economic recovery, ticket prices for Austrian passengers will inevitably rise. Ryanair will then be forced to further reduce its operations in Austria (as Lufthansa and Wizz recently did) and shift aircraft and capacity to lower-cost markets such as Sweden, Italy and Hungary".