Low-cost carrier Ryanair has confirmed a major downsizing of its operations at Vienna International Airport for the winter 2026/27 season. According to an interview with Austria manager Andreas Gruber published on 8 October, the airline will base only twelve aircraft in Vienna—down from fourteen this summer and sixteen last winter—and will discontinue ten city pairs from the Austrian capital, including Copenhagen, Marseille, Tel Aviv and Warsaw. Two additional routes from the regional airports of Linz and Klagenfurt to London-Stansted are also being axed. Ryanair says the decision is driven by what it considers an uncompetitive cost environment: a €12 Austrian aviation tax per departing passenger, a 30 percent increase in Vienna Airport charges, and sharply higher air-traffic-control fees since the pandemic. In a separate corporate press release issued the previous day, the airline blamed the “Stocker government’s” failure to scrap the tax, arguing that neighbouring countries such as Slovakia, Hungary and Italy have abolished similar levies to attract growth. For business travellers the cutback removes significant low-fare capacity on routes that are also served by Austrian Airlines. While most destinations will retain at least one non-stop option, reduced seat supply is likely to push up average fares and limit schedule flexibility—particularly on price-sensitive city-break and SME travel. Travel managers should review corporate air agreements and consider rail alternatives (e.g. ÖBB night-train services) where practical. The reduction also has labour-market consequences: Ryanair estimates that 80 jobs linked to the two withdrawn aircraft will disappear. Vienna Airport, which handled a record 6.7 million Ryanair passengers in 2025, has already warned of slower traffic growth in 2026. From a policy perspective, the spat intensifies pressure on the Austrian government to revisit its aviation tax ahead of the 2027 tourism strategy review. In the short term, travellers and relocation teams should monitor GDS inventory closely—Ryanair will remove the cancelled flights in phases over the coming weeks—and check whether existing PNRs are affected. Companies with large mobility volumes on the affected routes may wish to open negotiations with Austrian Airlines or Wizz Air for block-seat or corporate-discount arrangements.
Source: Gast.at
