Despite recently cutting a million seats from Spain’s regional airports, budget airline Ryanair is expanding routes from Málaga this winter, thus boosting its presence on the Costa del Sol.
Just months after cancelling one million seats in Spain this winter, mainly at regional bases, low-cost Irish airline Ryanair has announced a bolstered winter schedule for Málaga airport.
With 83 routes, 9 of which are new, Ryanair will increase its capacity on the Costa del Sol by 7 percent this season.
The new routes from Málaga include flights to Pardubice (Czech Republic) and Bratislava (Slovakia), as well as Brno and Ostrava (Czech Republic), Lübeck and Münster (Germany), Stockholm Vasteras (Sweden), Teesside (England) and Warsaw (Poland).
Some are completely new and other routes are being extended from summer to winter.
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All these flights will have two weekly flights, with the exception of the Warsaw route (six flights) and Bratislava (four).
In addition, the Irish airline will add additional flights on existing Málaga routes to popular destinations such as Copenhagen, Dublin, Fez (Morocco) and Milan, among others.
When presenting the winter programme, Alejandra Ruiz, Ryanair’s spokesperson in Spain, said in a statement that: “Ryanair is pleased to present its 2025/2026 winter flight schedule in Málaga, with 83 routes, including 9 exciting new destinations… This new flight offering increases Ryanair’s capacity at Málaga by 7 percent, giving our customers even more choice at the lowest fares.”
Touching on the company’s ongoing war of words with Spain’s airport operator, Aena, Ruiz added that “despite excessive Aena fees, which have contributed to the loss of 2 million seats by 2025 in other regions, Ryanair remains committed to Málaga, with 15 aircraft based at the airport, supporting more than 6,800 local jobs.”
Ryanair cut 800,000 seats on flights to Spain this summer and has pledged to cut a further million for the upcoming winter season, mainly in Spain’s smaller and regional airports, in protest against Aena’s 6.5 percent fee increase.
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The airline is demanding that the Spanish government — which owns 51 percent of Aena — lower airport charges at regional airports, where they have decided to reduce or eliminate operations.
The government on the other hand believes that this is a form of “blackmail” and has pointed out that the increase, which would amount to €0.68 per passenger, is much lower than the average 21 percent increase in Ryanair ticket prices over the past year. These increases earned the airline €820 million in the first quarter of this year.
Low-cost airlines are already swooping in to try and capitalise on Ryanair cutbacks in Spain amid the company’s war of words with Aena, the national airport operator.
Rival budget airline Wizz Air has stated that Spain’s airport fees aren’t as high as Ryanair has claimed during an ongoing battle with airport operators, opening the door to some of the million seats cuts by the Irish airline being replaced.
READ ALSO: Ryanair to scrap 36 flight routes to Spain
