![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ryanair-696x464.webp.webp\" "\\"Ryanair\\"\/")
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Ryanair <\/strong>has announced a huge downsizing of its operations in France<\/strong> \u2013 including the total pull-out from three cities \u2013 due to that country\u2019s increased air taxes.<\/p>\n Ryanair has promised a 13% reduction in capacity in France for this winter, resulting in the elimination of 750,000 seats, the cancellation of 25 routes and the halt of its operations at Bergerac, Brive and Strasbourg<\/strong> airports.<\/p>\n The move follows the French government\u2019s failure to reverse what the airline calls the excessive increase in the aviation tax, which was increased by 180% in March 2025. The announcement comes after numerous warnings from French airlines and airports that the new tax would make many routes to France unprofitable, especially at regional airports and during the winter season.<\/p>\n Ryanair said that without urgent action, France risks losing even more capacity and investment to more competitive markets by the summer of 2026, leaving regional airports half empty, while other EU countries will continue to attract investment from airlines, which have become scarce due to the shortage of aircraft. If the French government decides to abolish this harmful air tax altogether, Ryanair said it could envisage ambitious growth in France in the coming years, including an investment of $2.5 billion (25 new aircraft), a doubling of traffic to more than 30 million passengers per year, and the creation of 750 additional jobs at Ryanair in the French regions.<\/strong><\/p>\n Ryanair\u2019s Chief Commercial Officer, Jason McGuinness, said:<\/strong> \u201cWhile France should be focused on recovery and growth, Ryanair has no choice but to reduce capacity for winter 2025 by 13%, due to the French government\u2019s failure to act against this harmful air tax \u2013 which was increased by more than 180% earlier this year. It is unacceptable that a major European country like France is so far behind the rest of the EU, with traffic still below pre-Covid levels, due to excessive taxes and security fees imposed by the government, which make many French regional routes unprofitable, especially in winter. As a result, this winter, Ryanair will reduce capacity at several regional airports, resulting in the removal of 750,000 seats and 25 routes \u2013 many of which provide essential connectivity for people in French regions. This completely avoidable loss will have a severe impact on regional connectivity, tourism and local employment.<\/p>\n \u201cRyanair has always supported and invested in French regional airports, promoting low fares and economic development. Unless the government changes course and abolishes this unfair air tax, Ryanair\u2019s capacity and investments in France will inevitably be redirected to more competitive European markets such as Sweden, Hungary or parts of Italy, where governments are actively removing air taxes to boost traffic, tourism, employment and economic recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cRyanair once again calls on the French government to abolish this harmful air tax in order to make French aviation competitive again. This would allow French regional airports to benefit from strong growth in traffic, tourism and employment in the coming years, with Ryanair responding with an investment of $2.5 billion, 25 new aircraft, a doubling of traffic to more than 30 million passengers per year, and the creation of 750 additional jobs in French regions.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryanair has announced a huge downsizing of its operations in France \u2013 including the total pull-out from three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-303970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114942353767196168","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ryanair3.jpg\")
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