Ryanair plans to cut its summer 2025 flight offerings to Greek destinations by 2.1 million seats. This move results from delays in aircraft deliveries and efforts across Europe to reduce costs and manage operational expenses. The airline will offer over 3.7 million seats to Greece, down from 5.8 million scheduled the previous year for summer 2024.
Key factors influencing this decision include:
- Aircraft Delivery Delays: Boeing’s slower-than-expected delivery of new aeroplanes impacts capacity.
- Cost Management: Aiming to achieve efficiency, Ryanair adjusts its European strategy.
At Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos Airport, Ryanair has a little over 5% market share, significantly trailing AEGEAN’s 46% and SKY Express’s 12%. It also has a single-digit market share in 14 regional airports.
For summer 2024, Ryanair took an assertive approach, breaking records in August with 20.5 million passengers across Europe, facilitated by over 200 new routes. However, the winter 2024 and summer 2025 strategies focus on redistributing capacity to reduce costs in certain regions, including Sweden, Hungary, and various Italian areas.
In 2025, Ryanair aims to offer over 90% of its summer sales capacity, including 165 new European routes. In Greece, new summer connections include flights from Brussels to Nea Anchialos, Zakynthos to Stockholm, Corfu and Thessaloniki to Gothenburg, and internal flights linking Athens and Thessaloniki to Lemnos.
Ryanair expects passenger numbers between 198 and 200 million across Europe for 2025, projecting an 8% increase from the current year, contingent on Boeing’s delivery schedules. The airline revised its projected 2026 target to 210 million passengers from an initial estimate of 215 million to align costs and planning efforts.
