Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary expects the Austrian federal government to announce by May 1, 2026, whether the controversial air passenger tax will be completely abolished or if cuts will be made to the 2026/27 winter flight schedule from Austrian airports. Not only could flights in Vienna be affected, but flights from Linz to London are also in serious jeopardy.
For some time now, Ryanair has been publicly demanding the abolition of the Austrian air ticket tax. So far, this demand has largely fallen on deaf ears with the federal government. For example, the Finance Minister stated that the current budget situation makes this impossible. Several government members also criticized Ryanair's regular public attacks against Chancellor Stocker and Transport Minister Hanke, using terms like "Sleepy Stocker" and "Hopeless Hanke," as not being a legitimate way to engage with the government.
State councilors want to see the ticket tax abolished.
However, Ryanair is not alone in its opposition; several high-ranking politicians are now also calling for the abolition of the air passenger tax. Most recently, the ÖVP (Austrian People's Party) state councilor Achleitner explicitly advocated for its elimination in a press release. Furthermore, the tourism ministers of all Austrian states recently joined forces, also demanding the tax's removal. The opposition FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) submitted a corresponding motion to the National Council (the lower house of the Austrian Parliament). While the governing coalition did not reject this motion, which would have been possible given their majority, they referred it to the transport committee, thus delaying the issue indefinitely.
At its peak, Ryanair operated up to 21 aircraft based in Vienna. These were then still operating under OE flight numbers as Lauda. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Austrian subsidiary was dissolved, and Lauda Europe was founded in Malta, now operating solely as a wet-lease provider for its sister company Ryanair DAC (FR). In the summer 2025 schedule, a total of 19 aircraft were operating out of Vienna. Most recently, citing high base costs and air passenger duty, the airline reduced its presence to 14 aircraft. Competitor Wizz Air withdrew completely from Vienna and is instead expanding in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava.
Growth in Bratislava, declines in Austria
Both Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and Laudamotion CEO Andreas Gruber argued at the recent press conference that costs in Slovakia were significantly lower. The Slovakian government had abolished the ticket tax, halved ATC costs, and Bratislava Airport had introduced a new incentive program to stimulate growth. This had resulted in the Slovakian capital's airport recently achieving a 160 percent increase in passenger numbers, while Vienna Airport saw a ten percent decline.
In Bratislava, Ryanair is increasing its base to five aircraft during the current summer period of 2026. The trend is still towards growth, as there are various indications that further aircraft could be based at Slovakian airports by winter 2026/27 at the latest.
This could certainly negatively impact their presence in Austria, because when asked about the flights on the London (Stansted)-Linz route that are not yet bookable, Ryanair stated that this depends on whether or not the air passenger tax in Austria is abolished. The Upper Austrian airport is just one of over 365 in the Ryanair network, and whether or not they fly there twice a week is irrelevant. However, it does matter if the aircraft can be used to fly to other destinations with lower costs. In other words, where costs are lower, for example in Bratislava, the Ryanair Group ultimately earns more per flight.
Ryanair currently operates in Austria, serving Vienna, Linz, Klagenfurt, and Salzburg. While the airline will soon celebrate its 25th anniversary in Salzburg, it was absent from Klagenfurt and Linz airports for years, consistently citing high costs as the reason. Its return to Klagenfurt, and more recently Linz, was therefore quite surprising. At one point, Ryanair was even the sole scheduled carrier in Upper Austria. In Graz, where the low-cost carrier once operated flights, its aircraft remain conspicuously absent. Innsbruck was briefly served by Ryanair under the Laudamotion banner, operating from Düsseldorf, among other destinations.
Ryanair also wants to grow in the German states.
Ryanair's management has offered Austria the possibility of basing approximately ten additional aircraft in the Alpine republic if the air passenger tax is abolished. Furthermore, Andreas Gruber repeatedly emphasized that growth should occur not only in Vienna but also at the regional airports. In Linz, the indications are not pointing to a potential departure at the end of the current summer flight schedule period in 2026; instead, additional routes would be added in the winter of 2026/27. No explicit mention was made of Klagenfurt, Salzburg, Innsbruck, or possibly Graz, as the discussion focused specifically on Linz and Vienna.
Some regional airports are facing dire straits. Salzburg and Innsbruck have the "problem" that their winter business is traditionally very strong, generating the vast majority of their annual revenue during the colder months. Summers, on the other hand, are comparatively quiet. While Salzburg, the city of Mozart, has good connections to hubs year-round, Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol, has – once again – been left behind by Lufthansa. Graz, objectively speaking, is on par with Salzburg in terms of services and is even significantly better positioned regarding connections to hubs. Furthermore, business there is consistently spread throughout the year, so they can apparently afford to forgo low-cost carriers like Ryanair.
Klagenfurt on a shoestring budget after decades of chaos
Klagenfurt Airport was driven into the ground by a series of poor decisions that began around the year 2000. This culminated in its majority privatization and subsequent reversal. While the number of flights has increased slightly, it remains light-years away from connections to major hubs like Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, or alternatively Amsterdam, Paris, Istanbul, and so on. Only Austrian Airlines still connects to its Vienna hub, but even this route faces many long-term uncertainties.
In the short term, there are absolutely no indications that Austrian Airlines (AUA) might withdraw from Carinthia. However, due to fleet policy and potentially necessary wet leases, the numbers could always be reconsidered. The example of Innsbruck shows that Austrian Airlines now keeps a very close eye on the profitability of domestic flights and reduces them as needed, or even completely discontinues certain times of day. The few Skyalps flights that are planned to be added in Klagenfurt must first prove sustainable. The South Tyrolean company was unsuccessful with its Düsseldorf flights in Linz. The situation in Klagenfurt is difficult, and following Ryanair's recent announcement of a reduction in its presence in Austria, the low-cost carrier also reduced its Klagenfurt destinations without further communication.
Linz with Frankfurt flights without interlining
Linz is the Austrian airport currently in a particularly poor position. While flights to Frankfurt have resumed, they are currently a purely point-to-point connection operated by the Danish airline DAT under a PSO contract. As of today, there are neither codeshares nor interlining agreements with other airlines, meaning passengers cannot book through tickets. Behind the scenes, efforts are underway to persuade the Lufthansa Group to adopt an interlining model, similar to Skyhub Pad, where DAT is also the operating carrier. This would mean that through tickets to Linz from all over the world could be booked via the Lufthansa website or travel agencies, baggage could be checked through, and there would be some protection against missed connections due to delays. Naturally, this would also apply in the opposite direction. "Would," because currently, DAT flights are not even bookable via GDS systems, which is having a very negative impact on capacity utilization.
The politicians in Upper Austria and the airport management clearly placed particular importance on resuming flights between Linz and Frankfurt as quickly as possible. The decision-makers disregarded the fact that necessary agreements between airlines for connecting passengers – for example, between DAT and Lufthansa – were already in place and bookable from the outset; instead, they wanted to see the planes in the air as soon as possible.
The result is that these flights are disastrously underutilized. Until the necessary adjustments are made, the lead time business customers typically have for their bookings, coupled with the approaching summer months, which are traditionally very slow for this customer segment, suggests that the entire current summer period could remain weak. Without GDS and interlining with major carriers like Lufthansa, little will change. Incidentally, DAT isn't under any particular pressure, as any potential losses are already covered by the PSO contract.
Ryanair's presence in Linz as a kind of "bargaining chip"
It's obvious that Ryanair is taking issue with this PSO, which has been repeatedly criticized publicly, including by Salzburg Airport CEO Bettina Ganghofer. It's an open secret that low-cost carriers like Ryanair and Wizz Air aren't just after discounts and the lowest possible costs; ideally, they also want subsidies, grants, or other perks. They withdrew from Klagenfurt Airport at the time because the funding dried up.
In Linz, where Ryanair currently offers flights to Bari, Alicante, and Stansted in its summer schedule, there's no mention of this. Ryanair simply wants to cut costs in general and is calling for the abolition of the Austrian air passenger tax. They're promising growth, but also the potential shift of capacity to countries without such taxes. It's therefore no coincidence that Upper Austrian State Councillor Achleitner, who politically oversees Linz Airport, issued a press release demanding the abolition of the "air passenger tax" just one day before Ryanair's press conference, which took place today in Vienna. And at the aforementioned press conference, Ryanair indicated that if the government doesn't announce the abolition by May 1, 2026, their presence in Austria will be further reduced in the winter of 2026/27 – explicitly mentioning the Linz-Stansted route, the only one originally planned, as a "vulnerable option." In other words, the politicians in Upper Austria have realized that they are up against the wall with regard to the airport.
Ryanair also wants to see ATC costs halved.
Ryanair has repeatedly announced that it expects strong growth in Austria if the controversial air passenger tax is abolished. A complete withdrawal – following Wizz Air's example – is not currently conceivable, and the airline points to Germany, which is even more expensive. At least there, they would be able to reduce the air passenger tax.
But in addition to the main demand, there are also "secondary demands," such as halving air traffic control costs and the creation of an incentive program at Vienna Airport to encourage growth for all airlines. So, we'll have to wait and see. A whole series of demands, and currently the federal government is showing absolutely no interest in addressing them. The budget negotiations will take place until June 10, 2026, but Ryanair wants to hear announcements by May 1, 2026…