October 6, 2025, 12:03 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
In the middle of the ongoing winter season, Ryanair is drastically reducing its flight offerings in Germany. The Hungarian airline Wizz Air is also cutting numerous connections. The backdrop is the ongoing dispute over location costs.
Short-Term Reductions at Ryanair Until March 2026
Some weeks in winter and several airports are particularly affected by numerous cancellations. According to a report from BILD, the cuts are due to a long-standing dispute over location costs–with consequences for Germany’s aviation hub.
As Ryanair informed “airliners.de,” the flight cancellations are happening relatively short notice. The last three weeks of November, the first two weeks of December, and the last three weeks of January are particularly affected. The Christmas season remains unaffected by the cuts for now. In some cases, the reductions extend even to March 2026.
Memmingen Loses a Quarter of Its Winter Program
The Memmingen Airport is hit hardest. Ryanair is cutting up to 27 weekly flights there–about a quarter of the entire winter flight schedule. Nationwide, the impact is also evident: In November, Ryanair reduces the number of flights by four percent, in December by six percent, and in January by 30 percent.
Other locations are not spared: In Berlin, only 170 of the originally planned 246 connections remain in January. Cologne/Bonn Airport loses 44 connections.
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Background Is an Ongoing Dispute Over Fees
The cuts are related to a long-standing dispute over aviation location costs in Germany. Ryanair had already made an offer to the federal government in April. According to this, the number of passengers in Germany could be doubled to 34 million.
In return, the airline demanded the complete abolition of the aviation tax and a halving of air traffic control and security fees.
Already in the summer, the company warned of possible cuts. At that time, Ryanair’s sales chief Dara Brady stated: “If the federal government does not act, further capacities must be cut.” The current developments confirm this announcement.
German airlines and industry associations have long been demanding the planned increase in the aviation tax be reversed. Although this was agreed upon in the coalition agreement, it has not yet been implemented.
Wizz Air Also Cuts Connections
Not only Ryanair is reducing its capacities. Wizz Air has also significantly cut its winter flight schedule for Germany. According to evaluations of the flight plan, frequencies have been reduced at almost all German airports.
At Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport, a weekly connection to Tirana, Belgrade, and Timisoara is canceled. Dortmund loses two of the previously four flights to Banja Luka. In Stuttgart, connections to Sofia and Bucharest have been removed from the plan.