Ryanair to cut Brussels Charleroi capacity due to new tax
Ryanair plans to operate around 10% fewer flights from Brussels Charleroi Airport due to a new €3 passenger tax taking effect from April, Europe's largest low-cost carrier said today.
The airline will cut the number of seats from flights landing or taking off from Charleroi by 1.1 million from its current annual total of 10.5 million, Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary told reporters.
"We will keep cutting until the Belgian government abolishes these stupid taxes," he said.
Some aircraft will be redeployed to other locations, and new aircraft will go to Sweden and Albania.
"We're adding four new aircraft to Stockholm this year. In Albania, zero taxes, we're opening a base of four aircraft," Michael O'Leary said.
"We think this winter we're planning to move four or five of those aircraft out of Charleroi. They'll go to Slovakia, Italy and Sweden and that's the damage those taxes do," he added.
He said the EU needed to do more to keep European aviation competitive, including by covering non-European flights under its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Under the scheme, airlines are given an emissions allowance and must buy carbon credits to compensate for any emissions above the cap.
The EU initially limited the scope of ETS for airlines to the European Economic Area, a decision it has extended several times. The European Commission is due to review the limit by July before it expires in early 2027.
"Either we force all the non-Europeans to pay ETS or we reduce the ETS rates on European citizens. Aviation is one of the few industries where Europe is more competitive than the US," Mr O'Leary said.
Ryanair has meanwhile ruled out adding Elon Musk's Starlink internet to its aircraft, owing to additional fuel costs and flight length, he added.
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