Europe’s largest direct airline, Ryanair, also wants to organize its future growth, especially outside of Germany. “With its high costs, Germany does not exactly stand out as a market. We prefer to base our aircraft in Italy, Spain or other locations where we have lower access costs,” Ryanair representative for the German-speaking region, Annika Ledeboer, told the German press -Agency. At the moment, they are looking for new crews in France or Sweden rather than stationing more aircraft at German airports.
Ledeboer criticized the German air traffic tax as well as the local fees for aviation security and passenger controls. The operating costs at German airports are also comparatively high. As a result, Ryanair and other low-cost airlines turned away from the German market. Lufthansa’s strong market position also plays a role. Instead of 52 machines, the Irish have only 29 Boeings stationed at seven locations in this country. A total of 14 airports are served in Germany.
In the current financial year 2023/24, the European passenger leader wants to welcome around 16 million guests in Germany after 14.3 million in the previous year. Before the Corona crisis, up to 21 million people in Germany had used the Irish offers every year.
ADV: Costs must be noticeably reduced
The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) confirmed the statements with its most recent traffic forecast for the second half of the year. According to this, the number of seats available in Germany will only account for 85 percent of the pre-crisis value from 2019, while air traffic in the rest of Europe will fully reach the level of 2019 again. This is mainly due to the lower supply of point-to-point airlines such as Ryanair, which account for only 25 percent of supply in Germany, while they account for 39 percent of traffic in Europe.
The airport association ADV demanded a noticeable reduction in costs in order to restore the level playing field with its European neighbors. Regulatory duties and fees already accounted for more than 30 percent of site costs. The German airports would lose market share. According to BDL statistics, individual airports in Germany such as Dortmund, Düsseldorf-Weeze, Hahn and Karlsruhe have also grown significantly and in some cases significantly exceed the pre-Corona level. There, point-to-point airlines had bucked the trend by expanding their offerings.
The German air traffic market will also lag behind the European development in the medium term, said Ryanair manager Ledeboer. “If the race to catch up doesn’t work out in the current year, when a lot of people want to travel, the problems will last longer.” The consequences of the lack of competition are above-average ticket prices and fewer routes. In addition, the sharp drop in domestic air traffic in Germany will no longer reach the old level in the foreseeable future because many business travelers have avoided it.
Ryanair: 225 million passengers in 2026
Ryanair wants to continue to grow strongly in the coming years and increase the number of passengers from the planned 185 million in the current financial year to 225 million in 2026. This would also result in below-average growth opportunities for German airports. “We see potential, for example, in Nuremberg, Düsseldorf-Weeze or at Hahn in Rhineland-Palatinate,” said Ledeboer.
The manager did not want to comment on a possible return to Frankfurt, where an additional passenger terminal is to open in 2026. “Basically, we’re always willing to talk. It’s just a matter of keeping access costs at a competitive level for us.” A few days ago, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary told “Manager Magazin” that you would only come back to Frankfurt when the planned low-cost terminal was there. According to operator Fraport, this will be the case in 2026.
