Ryanair to reduce Portugal service over airport taxes

Ryanair says that it will divest in Portugal, particularly in terms of flight numbers in Madeira, Faro and Porto, following what it says is an excessive increase in airport taxes planned for 2024. ANA, the company that runs Portugal’s airports, has decided to hike taxes overall by 14.55% from next year.

“There is no justification for a monopoly like ANA (Vinci Group) to increase its overall taxes by as much as 17% in 2024”, said Michael O´Leary, the company’s president in a press conference.
“The operator wants even higher taxes; as if they weren’t high enough; to fill its pockets at the expense of Portuguese tourism and employment, especially the Portuguese islands”, he added. The airline had recently announced the closure of its base in the Azores for the same reasons.
On Tuesday, the low-cost airline announced it would cut one aircraft from its base in Madeira, which represents an investment of US$100 million, and reduce its traffic in Faro and Porto for the summer of 2024 because of ANA’s decision to increase airport taxes by 17% in Lisbon, 12% in Faro, 11% in Porto, 9% in the Azores, and 6% in Madeira.
Given the situation, Ryanair has called upon the Portuguese government to “reopen the concession for the new airport” which it continues to argue only makes sense if it is located at Montijo, as well as retaining Portela.
Moreover, he has asked regulator ANAC to urgently intervene and overturn these “monopolistic prices”, protecting Portugal’s airlines, passengers, and island economies from “the excessive and monopolistic prices charged by ANA before it is too late”.

FILIPE AMORIM/LUSA
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