EU must deliver competitiveness and reform ‘broken ATC system’ – Ryanair CEO

The European Union must “deliver competitiveness” along with scrapping taxes and reforming the “broken ATC system in Europe”, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said during a press conference on Tuesday.

O’Leary commented that there are more and more payments for ATC services, but that there is ultimately less service provided. He continued that the Irish and Maltese have to fly to travel, and so should not be taxed by countries such as the Netherlands and other EU nations.

The Ryanair CEO spoke about the airline’s strong post-COVID recovery, as he continued that it has had market share gain across Europe despite Boeing delays. O’Leary added that Ryanair is currently the top airline in Malta, Italy, Spain, and England, among other countries.

He stated that the airline has completed a hangar in Malta, which he said will be servicing aircraft and creating around 100 jobs. He added that there are plans to potentially establish a second hangar as well.

O’Leary and other Ryanair officials spoke of intentions to train and “grow our own engineers”, as they added that there will also be a Cabin Crew course which will be available in Malta starting in March.

“Malta is an important strategic hub for the Ryanair group,” O’Leary commented.

During the conference, Ryanair detailed its Summer 2025 growth plans for Malta, which include a new Boeing ‘Gamechanger’ aircraft with an investment of €100 million. As part of the growth plans, the airline is also introducing 2 new routes to Glasglow, Scotland and Rzeszow, Poland. There will also be increased frequencies of 18 existing routes including Barcelona, Milan, Stockholm, and Zagreb, with O’Leary commenting that this will give Maltese visitors “an even wider range of travel options at Europe’s lowest fares”.

Ryanair stated that this “record-breaking schedule” will grow Ryanair’s Malta traffic by 11% in 2025 to over 4.9m passengers and will see Ryanair’s Malta-based fleet increase to 8 total B737 aircraft with 68 total routes.

It continued that this growth represents an investment of around €800 million, and supports over 4,200 local jobs, including 30 new pilot and cabin crew jobs, which it added will drive year-round tourism growth for Malta’s island economy. Additionally, Ryanair stated that it is reinforcing its long-term commitment to Malta, with significant investments such as a state-of-the-art maintenance facility and the expansion of the Ryanair office in Malta, which aims to double the number of Ryanair highly skilled professionals on the island.

O’Leary commented that as an island economy, it is vital that Ryanair continues to grow low-cost visitor access on a year-round basis to Malta. He added that the aforementioned investments highlight Ryanair’s “commitment to enhancing Malta’s air connectivity, tourism, jobs, and economic growth”.

Ryanair concluded that in celebration of its 8th B737 aircraft based in Malta as well as the launch of 2 new summer routes, it has launched a seat sale with fares starting from €24.99.