Shorouk Express
Ryanair will completely pull out of the northern Asturias region, further consolidating the low-cost airline’s approach of turning its back on Spain’s smaller regional airports and focusing on the tourism hotspots.
Ryanair flights will continue operating to three international destinations from Asturias until March 2026, after which they will cease completely, CEO Michael O’Leary confirmed on Wednesday.
This includes its flights to Rome, Brussels and Dusseldorf from Asturias’s airport.
The Irish airline also recently discontinued its connection to London Stansted from the green region which houses the cities of Oviedo, Gijón and Avilés.
READ ALSO: Ryanair threatens to cut a million more seats to Spain by summer 2026
Ryanair has been drastically cutting flights to many of Spain’s smaller regional airports in 2025 to protest Spanish airport operator Aena’s airport charges, which are due to increase to 6.5 percent by 2026.
This means the airline will have to pay €11.03 per passenger, which Ryanair describes as “unjustifiable”, a complaint not shared by other budget carriers.
The airline already cut 800,000 seats on flights to Spain this summer and will slash a million more for the upcoming winter season. This represents a reduction of almost two million seats by the end of 2025.
REVEALED: The flight routes to Spain Ryanair will soon cancel
Ryanair’s latest decision will mean the complete elimination of flights from Asturias to Belgium (Ryanair’s Brussels route is the only one), a blow for a regional airport which already has a limited number of international flights.
However, it will still be possible to fly to Italy and Germany from Asturias despite Ryanair axing its Rome and Dusseldorf links, as other airlines operate flights to Venice, Munich and Frankfurt.
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In September, Ryanair also announced the closure of its Santiago de Compostela base and the cancellation of flights to Vigo (both airports in the Galicia region) as well as cutting all flights to Tenerife North, and a reduction in capacity to Santander and Zaragoza.
By contrast, they plan to increase seats by 600,000 to major Spanish airports such as Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, and Palma de Mallorca.
READ ALSO: Ryanair focuses on touristy Spain with nine new Málaga routes
“If Aena raises fees, we will take capacity away from regional airports and allocate it to other, more profitable airports, both in Spain and abroad,” O’Leary threatened.
The outspoken Ryanair CEO has predicted that “in the next five or ten years, many of these airports will close”.
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Ryanair’s latest flight cull is bad news for Spanish tourism as authorities are supposedly trying to tackle overtourism in the usual holiday hotspots by promoting lesser-known places across the country.
Inevitably, this will be very complicated to achieve if there aren’t enough flights to these alternative destinations.
READ ALSO: Will Ryanair’s cancelled flight routes to Spain be replaced by other airlines?
This is “a tourism catastrophe” for regional Spain, according to Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson.
Many Spanish news outlets have reported that for years now regional governments have discreetly used millions in public funds to subsidise Ryanair as a means of convincing them to keep flight routes to their territories despite low profitability.
They have also criticised Ryanair’s overall attitude, with one headline reading “How Ryanair became Spain’s top airline through insults, pressure, and conflict.”
In an interview with Cadena Ser radio station on Thursday, O’Leary said Ryanair” wanted to continue growing in Spain but needed “less interference from communist ministers” in reference to Spanish Consumer Affairs Pablo Bustinduy, who the Ryanair head has previously depicted as a “clown” during a press conference.
READ ALSO: New tourism promo of Spain’s interior clashes with lack of international flights
