The Spanish Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has responded once again to the accusations made by Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, and has claimed that “Spanish airport charges are low enough for a single person at Ryanair to have pocketed 100 million euros last year”.
“I’m perfectly capable of doing the maths. You know the saying: if you don’t like our rules, fly somewhere else,” Puente replied on his X account to the Ryanair CEO, who yesterday described the Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility as a “failure”.
O’Leary denied that the airline’s flight cuts at Spanish regional airports were due to a lack of aircraft and argued that the company has 648 aircraft this summer – 29 more than in 2025 – and expects to increase its passenger numbers from 208 million to 216 million this year.
The Ryanair CEO insisted that the problem lies with airport charges and taxes. In this regard, he cited Slovakia, Ireland, Sweden and regional Italy as examples, where, he pointed out, aviation taxes are being reduced.
To conclude his post on his X account, the airline’s CEO stepped up his criticism of Puente and mocked his mathematical abilities. In this regard, he stated that he would send the minister a copy of the book ‘Basic Maths for Dummies’.
Puente and O’Leary continue to exchange accusations via social media following several days of confrontation, which began in the wake of comments made by the minister in an interview with Europa Press, in which he accused the airline of “disguising” its problems with a shortage of aircraft through its criticism of Aena’s charges – claims which the company dismissed as “false”.
The minister has thus once again responded publicly to O’Leary, keeping alive the row that the two have been engaged in on social media for several days. The row comes against a backdrop of tension between Ryanair and Aena over airport charges and the airline’s presence at Spanish airports – an issue on which Puente and O’Leary have taken opposing stances.