Tourist numbers to Azores plummet by 25,000 after Ryanair pullout

It’s a disaster! After Ryanair’s decision to suspend flights to and from the Azores there has already been a 25,000 drop in passenger numbers.

The Irish low-cost airline decided to abandon flights to the autonomous region, complaining about airport fees which it considers too high. The interruption occurred at the end of March and the following month already reflected the decision.
It is a clear sign of the economic clout that a company can have on the local economy of a cash-strapped region like the Azores which largely relies on tourism revenues to survive and was short-sighted of Portugal’s government to not accommodate the airline which provides so many jobs and brings revenues to that regional economy.

Ryanair stopped flights to São Miguel and Terceira at the end of March, following complaints from the airports about high fees. The drop in travel to the Autonomous Region was already felt in April, reflected in the number of arrivals and flights operated.

The nine airports in the Azores region recorded the arrival of 178,568 passengers in April, 25,150 fewer than in the same period last year, or -12.3%, when 203,718 tourists arrived. Only the airports of Santa Maria and Faial saw an increase in passenger numbers in April, while Flores lost a single passenger compared to April 2025.

The biggest loss, according to data released by the Regional Statistics Service of the Azores (SREA), was felt in the region’s tourist epicenter. The island of São Miguel saw 19,476 fewer passengers arrive in April of this year, a drop of 15.5%, and Terceira lost 5,582 tourists in the same period, a decrease of 13.9%. The losses experienced in the remaining airports of this Autonomous Region did not exceed 600 passengers in total.

Source: Observador; Credits: Wikipedia