Ryanair flights: UK to France flights affected as airline leaves Bordeaux Airport after 14 years over rising costs

Ryanair has announced it will be withdrawing its base from Bordeaux Airport in France. The airline currently operates around 40 routes to and from the French airport with three aircraft based there and 90 staff.

It has had a base there for 14 years - but the airline will be withdrawing it in November. It comes after Ryanair failed to reach an agreement over fees. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said in March that Bordeaux airport was seeking to double its fees and warned he would shut the base rather than pay that amount.

Commercial director Jason McGuinness said: “We are disappointed that Bordeaux airport has not agreed to the extension of our low-cost base from November 2024. Due to rising costs, we have no financial alternative but to close our Bordeaux base in November and relocate those aircraft and jobs to cheaper bases elsewhere in the Ryanair Group’s extensive network of airports across Europe.”

An airport spokesperson told the AFP news agency it had “put limits on the financial demands” of Ryanair and would look to diversify the airlines using Bordeaux. They added: “We don’t wish to see a company which has been installed in Bordeaux for 14 years leave. If it would like to work again in Bordeaux, it will be welcome.”  

Bordeaux-Merignac in 2023 was the eighth busiest French airport with 6.6 million passengers. However, this figure is just 85.5 percent of pre-Covid 2019 levels whereas the average for French airports was 92.7 percent.