So in their latest media release, Ryanair have stated that they are moving away from ‘high tax’ countries like the UK and Ireland, and setting up more routes in countries which have ‘reduced, or even cancelled their taxes’ – countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.

The release states:

Traffic at many Irish and UK airports has slumped, with Ireland facing a decline of 15% of its air traffic, and the UK set to lose almost 10% of its traffic.  We again call on the British and Irish Governments to scrap these stupid tourist taxes and reduce airport charges.  VAT receipts on visitor spend alone would be a multiple of the revenues generated from these tourist taxes.  The Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish governments have led the way by scrapping passenger taxes and/or reducing airport charges (in some cases to zero) in order to stimulate traffic growth.  We are switching a material proportion of Ryanair’s Winter capacity and growth away from high tax, high cost countries like Britain and Ireland in favour of “no tax”, lower cost countries like Belgium, Holland, Italy and Spain. 

Now let’s not pretend that the low countries make any significant impact on Ryanair’s route network – they only have one signficant base here, and that is at Brussels Charleroi, which has been subject to different controversies over airport subsidies. So the real move from summer to winter is from the UK and Ireland to Spain and Italy.

Is this really all about tax, or does it have more to do with there being just a little bit more sunshine in these countries over the winter months?