Low cost carrier Ryanair has announced it will suspend and reduce the number of flights at seven airports in Spain due to excessive fees imposed by the state airport operator Aena. According to the airline, Croatia is expected to be one of the countries that will gain more flights as a result. Ryanair will cease operations to the cities of Jerez and Valladolid. It will also reduce the number of services from Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, Zaragoza, Santander, and Asturias. Overall, it will reduce capacity on twelve routes by 18% and wipe out around 800.000 seats on the market compared to last summer.
Over the course of the week, Ryanair has added additional frequencies on several of its flights from Croatia. Cementing its position as the country’s largest airline, it currently has a peak of 419 departing weekly flights from the country in July and August, up by 39 flights on last year. Weekly departing capacity over the peak summer travel period stands at 78.020, which is up by over 7.000 seats per week. However, the reduction of operations in Spain will impact one route to Croatia, with the seasonal service between Girona and Zagreb reduced from the initially planned three weekly to two weekly rotations. As a result, frequencies will match those from last year.