Lisbon, Nov. 20, 2025 (Lusa) - Ryanair will end all flights to the Azores from March 2026, citing high airport charges and "government inaction", the low-cost airline announced on Thursday.

Ryanair announced today “that it will be cancelling all flights to/from the Azores from 29 March 2026, due to high airport charges (set by French airport monopoly ANA) and the inaction of the Portuguese government, which has increased air navigation charges by +120% post Covid and introduced a €2 travel tax, at a time when other European Union (EU) states are abolishing travel taxes to ensure that capacity growth is scarce”.

ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, the company that manages Portugal's airport infrastructure, is owned by the French group Vinci.

The company argues that "unfortunately, the ANA monopoly has no plan to increase low-cost connectivity to the Azores", adding that ANA "faces no competition in Portugal, which has allowed it to make monopoly profits by increasing Portuguese airport charges without any penalty, at a time when competing airports in other EU countries are cutting charges to stimulate growth".

Ryanair argues that the government "must intervene and ensure" that national airports, "a critical part of the national infrastructure, especially in an island region like the Azores, serve to benefit the Portuguese people and not a French airport monopoly".

MSF/ADB // ADB.

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