Ryanair walks away from another airport
June 1, 2025
Ryanair will withdraw entirely from Maastricht Aachen Airport from late October, blaming increases in local charges and what it brands excessive Dutch government aviation taxes.
The move will take effect from 26 October 2025, ending all services at the southern Netherlands airport and eliminating five direct routes and an estimated 150,000 annual seats.
The low-cost carrier has described Maastricht as one of Europe’s most expensive airports following the hike in charges. It also pointed to the Netherlands’ “eco tax” on air travel – introduced in 2021 and now nearly €30 per passenger – as another reason for the pullout.
Ryanair claims these costs are harming both the airport’s competitiveness and broader regional connectivity.
“Ryanair is disappointed to announce the removal of all our flights to Maastricht Airport from 26 October 2025, which comes as a result of the Airport’s excessive cost increases and the Dutch Govt’s soaring aviation taxes of almost €30 per passenger, which have increased by +275% since 2021. These significant cost increases make Maastricht Airport one of the most expensive airports in Europe and completely uncompetitive compared to other countries and low-cost airports elsewhere in Europe, who are reducing airport costs and abolishing aviation taxes to stimulate traffic recovery and growth,” said Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer Jason McGuinness.
“Ryanair continues to grow traffic (this year from 200m to 206m) by offering unbeatable low fares to customers across Europe at airports that have low access costs. Maastricht’s sky-high costs are damaging its connectivity, as evidenced by the Airport’s failure to recover its traffic post-Covid, lagging far behind the rest of Europe at just 50% of pre-Covid traffic in 2024 – a figure set to fall even further following Ryanair’s exit.”
The airline says it will redeploy the lost Maastricht capacity to more cost-competitive locations in Europe, including airports in Sweden, Italy and Poland, where it says governments are reducing aviation-related charges to encourage growth.
Ryanair’s retreat from Maastricht follows a broader pattern of base and route closures in recent years due to what it sees as unsustainable cost structures at certain airports.
The carrier has already scaled back operations or pulled out of airports in Denmark, Italy, Germany, and parts of Spain, often citing similar concerns over airport fees.
