Originally Posted by
ALEXGVA
RYANAIR CLOSES 2 AIRCRAFT BILLUND BASE IN RESPONSE TO GOVT’S HARMFUL AVIATION TAX
DENMARK LOSES 1.7M SEATS, 32 ROUTES, AND 2 AIRCRAFT FOR SUMMER 2025 AS RYANAIR SWITCHES CAPACITY TO COMPETING EU COUNTRIES WITH NO HARMFUL AVIATION TAXES
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Fri, 31 Jan) announced that it will close its 2 aircraft Billund base (a loss of $200m investment) and cut all routes to/from Aalborg from the end of March, in response to the Govt’s short-sighted decision to introduce an aviation tax of up to DKK 50 per departing passenger from Jan 2025, coupled with Billund’s failure to agree a competitive long-term agreement.
Denmark is one of the few EU countries that has yet to recover its pre-Covid traffic at just 95% of 2019 levels. This harmful aviation tax will further damage Denmark’s connectivity, tourism jobs and economy by making Denmark (particularly regional airports) hopelessly uncompetitive compared to competing EU countries like Sweden, Italy, and Hungary who are abolishing their aviation taxes to promote connectivity, traffic, jobs, and economic growth. In stark contrast, Denmark has bizarrely introduced an aviation tax, which has resulted in the loss of over 1.7m seats, 32 routes and 2 aircraft, as well as associated investment and jobs.
I think the real loser on this one will be Legoland – I've no idea how much of the inbound traffic to BLL was headed there, but it has to have been substantial.