Ryanair does U-turn on starting flights to and from major Paris airport

The low-cost carrier Ryanair has cancelled its planned routes from Paris Orly airport, months before the first flight was scheduled to depart. 

Ryanair acquired two of the 8,000 redistributed flight ‘slots’ from Paris’ second largest airport for the upcoming year, setting up routes to Bratislava and Bergamo, which were originally due to begin in spring 2025.

These would have been the airline’s first routes to or from either of Paris' main airports.

Several French media sources report that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary vetoed the move.

The carrier cannot choose to retake the slots for different flight routes later in 2025.

It has not made an official announcement about the change, and the other redistributed flight slots acquired by other airlines such as Voltea, WizzAir and easyJet are unaffected. 

Read more: EasyJet announces nine new flight routes from France including to UK

Cancelled airline taxes may have influenced decision

The reason for the U-turn has not been given but the new routes were a marked change from its usual strategy of serving regional airports, where airport fees are lower or there are incentives and subsidies paid to operators who choose to fly there. 

This can be seen all over France, with the airline serving 25 airports – 22 of which are regional – with the capital and its use of Beauvais being a prime example of its strategy.

Ryanair has never flown out of Orly or Charles de Gaulle (Roissy) before – reportedly due to the high airport fees – and prefers to use Paris Beauvais in Oise, around 50 miles north of Paris. 

It is possible that Ryanair’s initial choice to fly from Orly was a response to the proposed increase in airline solidarity taxes in the now-scrapped 2025 budget of Michel Barnier. 

The airline threatened to pull out of 10 regional French airports if the tax rises came into force, saying it would no longer be economically viable to serve them.

However, the tax increases were significantly watered down when passing through the French Senate – which also proposed exemptions for routes to struggling regional airports. They were then thrown out altogether when former prime minister Michel Barnier lost a vote of no confidence on December 4. 

It is unknown whether new prime minister François Bayrou will attempt to implement the tax rises in his new budget. 

Read more: Centrist François Bayrou announced as new French prime minister

At this moment, it is not expected that Ryanair will pull out of the regional French airports, which may have influenced its decision to step back from Paris Orly.