Ryanair has concluded negotiations with Modlin Airport without reaching a long-term development agreement. As a result, the summer flight schedule will be approximately 30% smaller compared to the previous year. The airline will cancel 11 routes and reduce frequencies on 28 others, cutting over one million available seats from the airport.
“The only reason for the reduction is the pricing issue at Modlin, where charges are currently higher than they were a year or two ago,” explained Michał Kaczmarzyk, CEO of Buzz, a Ryanair Group subsidiary.
“In Modlin, we had to slightly reduce our summer schedule compared to the previous season. Last year, we carried nearly 2.7 million passengers from Modlin; this year, the figure will drop to 1.5–1.6 million. This is a significant reduction. We had to cut routes that were no longer profitable. However, we are still operating from Modlin with four based aircraft and have no immediate plans to leave the airport,” Kaczmarzyk added.
Routes Cancelled and Frequencies Reduced
Ryanair is reducing frequencies on 28 routes and permanently canceling 11 direct connections. Among the routes from last year’s summer schedule that will not return are flights to Gothenburg, Kaunas, Vienna, Riga, Oslo-Torp, Manchester, Athens, Birmingham, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, and Valencia.
“We were unable to agree on or negotiate a commercial agreement that would provide stable growth opportunities for the next five to six years. This lack of success affects not only us but also Modlin and its passengers, who now have a much smaller selection of routes compared to last year,” Kaczmarzyk explained.
Ryanair’s 10-year contract with Mazowiecki Port Lotniczy Modlin expired at the end of 2023. Under the previous agreement, the carrier paid a passenger fee of 5 PLN if it handled more than 3 million passengers annually. The new pricing structure, in effect since October 2023, introduces a base passenger fee of 37 PLN, which decreases depending on the number of passengers carried by the airline. For example, fees drop to 14 PLN for 1–1.5 million passengers, 10 PLN for 1.5–2 million passengers, and 6 PLN for over 2.5 million passengers.
Disagreement Over Pricing
“This isn’t about lowering fees. We negotiated higher fees than we had in the past decade, but we couldn’t find common ground on a level that would be acceptable to us and satisfactory to the airport. We’ve always acknowledged that historical rates needed to increase, but the proposed prices make certain routes unprofitable to operate,” said Kaczmarzyk.
Impact on Modlin and Ryanair’s Operations
Modlin Airport, Ryanair’s main base in the Mazovia region, handled 3.4 million passengers in its record year of 2023, with over 80% being Ryanair customers. However, the carrier estimates that passenger numbers will drop to the lowest levels in over a decade by 2025.
This decline has already impacted Modlin’s overall statistics. According to data from Poland’s Civil Aviation Authority (ULC), the airport’s passenger numbers fell by over 15% in the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
Shift to Chopin Airport
Ryanair has moved some routes, such as Manchester and Vienna, from Modlin to Warsaw Chopin Airport. In 2024, the airline served 381,000 passengers at Chopin, a figure expected to rise to around 500,000 in 2025.
“Any new route launched from an airport like Chopin usually sells immediately. In regional airports, routes often require a stimulation period—sometimes several months or even over a year—before they become profitable. That’s why it’s hard to compare Chopin with Modlin. At a hub like Chopin, airlines can afford to pay more for infrastructure access than at a regional airport,” Kaczmarzyk explained.
Ryanair Continues to Dominate International Traffic
In the first three quarters of 2024, Ryanair handled the highest number of passengers in international scheduled traffic, reaching 13 million—a 1.5 million increase compared to the same period in 2023. However, the unresolved pricing dispute with Modlin Airport may limit its future growth in the region.
