Quick Links Complete exit from Bordeaux in November Warsaw Modlin frustration Ryanair reliance Is this the end of ultra-low-cost airlines in Europe? Summary Ryanair pulling out of Bordeaux & cutting flights in Warsaw shows its power over smaller airports. Some airports rely heavily on the airline, making them vulnerable to fee negotiations & flight cuts. Rising costs & regulations may signal the beginning of the end for low-cost carriers in Europe.
Ryanair recently announced that it would be cutting services completely out of Bordeaux-Merignac Airport (BOD) and slashing its number of flights in half at Warsaw’s secondary Modlin Airport (WMI) . This will affect the airports’ operations, which are to a differing degree dependent on the low-cost carrier. This reflects a phenomenon in Europe whereby low-cost airlines, and in particular, Ryanair, have smaller airports in a chokehold in terms of airport fees and other demands.
Simple Flying spoke to Wouter Dewulf, Professor of Air Transport Management at the University of Antwerp, and Marcin Walkow, an aviation journalist at Polish financial portal money.pl , to examine the dynamics of this influence given these cuts both in Warsaw and elsewhere . Complete exit from Bordeaux in November In May, Ryanair announced that it would be leaving BOD altogether after the two parties failed to reach an agreement on airport fees.
Bordeaux, which planned to increase fees as of November 2024, will lose three Ryanair-based aircraft and 90 job.