An Austrian court officer boarded a Ryanair plane due to the airline's failure to pay compensation to a passenger, the airport where the incident occurred on March 9 confirmed to EFE. The airline had refused to pay a traveler 890 euros in legal fees and compensation for a flight to Mallorca that was delayed two years ago. The dispute began in 2014 when a flight from Linz, Austria, to Palma was delayed by 13 hours. One of the passengers on the affected flight was forced to pay for an alternative flight and, at the same time, claimed reimbursement of her expenses and compensation, as stipulated by aviation regulations. However, Ryanair only refunded the original ticket and not the 250 euros in compensation for such cases or the compensation due for this type of delay, nor did they reimburse the additional 105 euros for the alternative ticket the passenger had to purchase.

The tension between Ryanair and Aena remains high after the airport operator moved forward with its plan to raise airport fees. The low-cost airline is one of the most combative. against this measureRyanair has announced it will cut its capacity next summer season at Girona Airport, scheduling 11% fewer seats. This will be the first reduction at the Catalan airport since the start of the pandemic, where the airline, led by Michael O'Leary, carries the most passengers. Despite the decrease in Girona due to Aena's "failed fee system," Ryanair will maintain growth at the other Catalan airports, with 6% more seats in Reus and 2% more in Barcelona. At El Prat Airport, the Irish airline will increase its capacity again after reducing it by 5% during the winter season, when it diverged from the general growth of its competitors and also responded to the fee increase proposed by the airport operator. "Our commitment to Barcelona remains strong and we will continue to grow, albeit at a more moderate pace until the airport expands," said Alejandra Ruiz, the airline's spokesperson in Spain. Although Ryanair leads the market in Spain, at El Prat it ranks as the second airline in terms of passenger traffic, far behind Vueling.

Tesla CEO and X Corp chairman Elon Musk, owner of the former Twitter social network, has launched a full-blown war with Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary. The world's richest man is furious that O'Leary ruled out installing Starlink satellite internet's Wi-Fi connection on planes. Musk has taken to social media to ask if he should buy Ryanair to fire O'Leary. He did so through a poll titled "Should I buy Ryanair and put someone who's actually named Ryan in charge?" This is the same strategy, or a very similar one, to the one Musk used when he wanted to buy X, which he ultimately did: he acquired the social network for around $44 billion. Financial TimesIt all started with an interview on Irish radio station Newstalk, where O'Leary declared that Musk "knows nothing about airplanes." He added that this high-speed satellite connection would cost $250 million (€213 million), which his passengers wouldn't be willing to pay.

After a record-breaking summer, El Prat Airport is preparing to continue its run this winter. Airlines are maintaining their commitment to Barcelona with more seats in the coming months, confirming their forecast for another record-breaking year. the theoretical capacity limit infrastructure. More passengers than ever before are still not limiting airline operations or causing complaints among users.

In its battle with Aena, Ryanair will also reduce its service to Barcelona during the winter season, breaking with the growth forecasts of other airlines. The cuts at El Prat are a consequence of the elimination of flights to regional Spanish airports and the Canary Islands, which the Irish airline announced after learning of the situation. The airport manager's intention to raise fees by 2026.

It's happening month after month. Barcelona Airport continues to grow and set new records. It does so after exceeding its theoretical capacity limit last year, when it recorded its first record. more than 55 million passengers, one of the main arguments for launching the El Prat expansion project, despite the social rejection that the extension of the third runway has aroused due to the environmental impacts. However, no airline has complained so far about having problems operating normally or because they are accumulating excessive delays, nor have passengers noticed it, with hot spots such as security checkpoints functioning better than previous years.

Ryanair's announcement that it will drastically reduce operations at several Spanish airports once again puts the spotlight on how the low-cost carrier model actually works. The news isn't surprising: every time airport charges rise, the company threatens to withdraw routes. And this time, with an increase on the horizon, it seems to be serious.

Ryanair's announcement that it is cutting service and activity in protest against Aena's airport charges provoked numerous reactions this Thursday. The most notable was that of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, who, during an appearance in Congress, accused the low-cost airline of engaging in "blackmail" and "extortion" and using "fallacies" to justify itself. According to Puente, the company will instead relocate to other, more profitable airports, but without leaving the country. In fact, the Minister of Transport asserted that Ryanair is doing very well for Spain, so much so, he added, that its CEO will receive a €100 million bonus.

The umpteenth dispute between Ryanair and the Spanish airport operator Aena is already having repercussions on the routes the company offers to the Spanish state. The Irish low-cost airline will close its Santiago base and cancel all flights to Vigo and Tenerife North, while keeping its bases in Valladolid and Jerez closed, and will reduce its capacity in Asturias, Santander, Zaragoza, Vitoria, and the Canary Islands this winter.

Workers at Menzies, the company that provides ground service to a dozen airlines at El Prat Airport, have suspended their planned strike days for this weekend. The strike committee, led by the UGT (Union of Workers' Unions), has reached a preliminary agreement with management on issues such as paying outstanding working days and guaranteeing schedules that do not exceed the maximums established by the collective bargaining agreement. Improvements have also been achieved, such as a more equitable distribution of shifts and breaks, the planning of holidays without impositions, and the monthly publication of shifts.

The second day of the handling staff strike at Spanish airports has been minimally disrupted. The first, which began this Friday only with Ryanair handling staff, Azul Handling, suffered minimal impact. This Saturday, which was expected to be more chaotic due to the addition of a strike by Menzies ground staff at Ryanair, only resulted in some cancellations and delays at El Prat airport for more than ten airlines operating with Menzies, and some delays at Girona and Reus airports.

El Prat Airport is preparing for a busy long weekend. with 4,200 scheduled flights and strikes in the ground services of some airlines. The first is that of the employees of Azul, the subsidiary of handling (baggage and cargo services) of Ryanair, which begins this Friday, August 15th. In addition, on Saturday and Sunday, the staff of another company, Menzies, which provides the same services to Emirates, British Airways, American Airlines, EasyJet, Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, and Wizz Air, will join the strike. Vueling, the main operator at El Prat, has its own company within the IAG group and is not affected by these labor disputes, which, in any case, could disrupt the operations of many Spanish airports. The strikes will put Barcelona to the test, which is precisely In July, it broke the historical record for passengers in a month, with 5.5 millionUnion sources estimate that the strikes could affect 40% of scheduled flights at this facility.

The tourism sector broke records in 2024 and is on track to repeat them this year, although the figures are growing. with less force in these first six monthsWith El Prat airport exceeding its theoretical capacity limit, with more than 55 million passengers, one of its routes has become the busiest in all of Europe. The short-haul flight between Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca received the highest number of travelers in 2024, according to data collected from 240 airlines by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

With the intense investment wave expected in the coming years, Aena has approved the largest increase in airport taxes in the last ten years, one of the factors that determine the price of airline tickets. By 2026, the airport manager wants to charge another 68 cents per passenger, 6.5% more, up to a maximum of 11.03 euros per traveler.

A Barcelona court has forced Ryanair to retract its public statements against the travel agency eDreams, accusing it of committing "acts of piracy" and defrauding people, arguing that this campaign carried out "an act of unfair competition by denigration."

After a nine-and-a-half-hour flight from Mumbai, India's economic capital, an IndiGo Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (chartered by Norse Atlantic Airways) landed at Manchester Airport at 9:28 a.m. local time on July 1. With this flight, India's leading airline made its debut in European skies. The following day, July 2, the second route to the Old Continent opened, this time between Mumbai and Amsterdam, also with three weekly frequencies, like the one to Manchester. Before the end of the year, IndiGo plans to launch direct connections to Athens, Copenhagen, and London.

After the member states of the European Union agreed a few weeks ago to allow airlines charge for hand luggage, the High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has also taken a position in this direction. The TSJM has provisionally suspended the sanctions imposed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. on Ryanair and Norwegian airlines, which will be able to maintain their current baggage policy until a final ruling is issued. Approved at the end of last year, the fines for abusive practices were €107 million for Ryanair, the highest, and €1.6 million for Norwegian. Other airlines low cost Vueling, EasyJet, and Volotea were also fined.

At least nine people were injured when a plane was forced to make an emergency landing in southern Germany due to severe turbulence caused by a storm tonight, according to Reuters. The flight was a Ryanair flight bound for Milan.

"Ryanair has 20 times more passengers than the 3 million who voted for Mr. Bustinduy and his Sumar party in the Spanish elections. 20 times more Spaniards support Ryanair than the crazy minister Bustinduy and his illegal fines for hand luggage." The phrase is from Ryanair's CEO, Michael O'Leary, who the airline includes in a press release on February 5 and who joins the crusade that the Irish businessman has started against the Minister of Social Rights and Consumption, Pablo Bustinduy. The campaign has not stopped there. A few days ago, the director called Bustinduy a "crazy and communist minister" and this week he has presented a campaign with offers of cheap flights with a photograph of the head of Consum with a clown wig, whom he has called a "stupid minister."

The reactivation of tourism, after two years in which its workers have suffered the consequences of the pandemic, returns with labour conflicts. First it was the cabin crew of Ryanair's Spanish bases and now it is British airline Easyjet's staff who have called nine days of strike in July to protest against the deadlock in the negotiation of their working conditions. The company's 450 employees at the airports of El Prat, Malaga and Palma are called to a 24-hour strike on 1, 2, 3, 15, 16, 17, 29, 30 and 31 July, coinciding with the first, third and last weekend of the month. The strike call has been presented and announced this Tuesday by the USO union, one of the two organisations behind the mobilisations at Ryanair.