Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has announced it is moving three of its 19 aircraft based at Vienna airport to other countries and will close down three routes from the Austrian capital.
The company said yesterday that the high tax burden in Austria and the excessive fees charged by the airport made activities in Vienna increasingly unattractive.
The three routes to be discontinued are the connections to Billund in Sweden, Santander in Spain and Tallinn in Estonia. Ryanair had already paused flying between Vienna and Tallinn earlier this year, now they are cutting the service completely.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said: “Vienna’s ridiculously high access costs, including Austria’s harmful Aviation Tax of €12 per passenger has forced Ryanair to switch three aircraft and cancel three routes.”
He added: “Austria remains one of the few EU countries like Germany that has still failed to recover its pre-Covid traffic. This is despite Ryanair’s rapid growth in Austria since 2019 of 160 per cent. As a result of the government’s €12 Aviation Tax and sky-high access costs, Austria has become hopelessly uncompetitive.”
The decision of the Irish low-cost carrier came after Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air had announced the closure of its base at Vienna airport on September 11.
Wizz Air said it would no longer offer any connections from the Austrian capital after March 2026. Its five Airbus A321 jets based in Vienna will be moved to other airports. Currently, Wizz Air still flies to 28 cities in 20 countries from Vienna.
“With Wizz Air’s strategic focus on building its Central and Eastern European core markets and delivering low fares made possible by cost discipline, operating from Vienna has become incompatible with the airline’s ultra-low-cost business model,” the company said in a statement.
In the future, the airline said it plans to focus its operations in Central Europe at its bases in Bratislava, Slovakia and Budapest, Hungary.
Wizz Air manager Mauro Peneda said: “We recently celebrated seven years of operations in Vienna, during which Wizz Air has remained committed to offering Austrian travellers affordable and convenient travel options.
“Unfortunately, the airport cost base in Vienna, as well as taxes and ground handling services have risen significantly since our launch, making continued operations unsustainable.
“This was a difficult, but necessary decision to safeguard the long-term competitiveness of our business,” Peneda said.
A spokesperson for Vienna Airport called Wizz Air’s decision “very regrettable” and put the blame on Austria’s air passenger tax.
Austria introduced this tax in 2010. It was first set at €7 per passenger for flights within most of Europe.
In September 2020, under Austria’s then-Conservative-Greens coalition government, the tax was raised significantly to €12 per passenger and €30 on flights covering less than 350 km.
