Ryanair cuts more routes in the Canary Islands
Ryanair is continuing to scale back its operations in the Canary Islands, announcing more route cancellations that bring the total to thirteen lost connections in just two months. The cuts mainly affect Lanzarote and Tenerife South, and come as part of an ongoing dispute between the airline and airport operator Aena.
The latest cancellations include several important routes to Barcelona. Ryanair will no longer fly from Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, or Tenerife South to the Catalan capital. Lanzarote also loses flights to Budapest and Dakhla in Western Sahara.
Tenerife faces further disruption. The airline will stop operating its Tenerife South routes to Madrid and Seville, on top of its earlier decision to abandon Tenerife North completely this winter. This means that Tenerife North will lose Ryanair flights to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Alicante and Palma, leaving the airport without its main low-cost carrier during the quieter months.
Why is Ryanair pulling back?
The airline says the cuts are due to what it considers “unfairly high” airport charges set by Aena. Ryanair claims these costs make it harder to operate profitably from regional airports, including those in the Canary Islands. As a result, it is moving planes to other European destinations where it expects better financial returns.
In total, the changes represent around 400,000 fewer seats available in the archipelago this winter, roughly 10% of Ryanair’s usual winter capacity in the islands.
Other airlines step in
Despite Ryanair’s retreat, other airlines are increasing their presence. Air Nostrum will add extra Christmas flights to Tenerife North from Santiago, Valencia and Valladolid, and to Gran Canaria from Valencia and León.
On a larger scale, the winter season begins with 24 new routes to the Canary Islands. EasyJet is responsible for nine of them, boosting connections from France, Italy, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. Wizz Air, airBaltic and Eurowings are also expanding.
Airport numbers still rising
Passenger figures remain strong. In October, Canary Islands airports handled 4.6 million travellers, an increase of 2.3% compared to last year. Tenerife North showed one of the biggest jumps, up 5.6%, despite being the airport most affected by Ryanair’s withdrawal. Fuerteventura also recorded a strong growth of 5.5%.
However, forecasts for January 2026 already predicted a slight drop in available seats to Tenerife, and the new cancellations are expected to deepen that trend. While the UK and German markets are reducing capacity, other countrie, such as the Netherlands, Norway, Italy and France, are increasing theirs.
With some airlines expanding and others cutting back, this winter is shaping up to be unusually unpredictable for the Canary Islands.
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