Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson has said that the airline cannot hit its expansion targets due to the comparably high taxes on the aviation industry that are in place in Germany.

Ryanair complains German aviation taxes are too high

Speaking in an interview with the WELT newspaper, Ryanair boss Eddie Wilson has said that while the European budget airline will continue to expand, comparatively high taxes on the aviation industry in Germany mean that the company will not prioritise expansion in the federal republic. 

Germany charges airlines some of the highest airport fees, aviation security fees and aviation tax in Europe. And when comes to domestic travel across European borders, Germany is one of the only countries to apply higher taxes for domestic flights than for trains, 19 percent versus 7 percent.

For the year 2023/2024 Ryanair is aiming to fly 183,5 million passengers, with the aim to increase the same figure to 300 million by 2033/34. Despite the fact that Wilson believes Ryanair has the potential to do well out of Germany’s regional airports, the CEO said that the company is not dependent on the federal republic.

Ryanair study claims risk to German economy

Wilson emphasised that the international company is not dependent on business in Germany, but said that a recent study commissioned by Ryanair found that the German economy needed to adopt a more welcoming attitude to low-budget airlines to avoid up to 8,5 billion in GDP loss.

The Ryanair-commissioned study claims that Germany will lose the custom of up to 16 million air passengers each year should taxes and fees not be reduced. “If the German government doesn’t do anything to lower the fees, customers in Germany can look forward to seeing the highest flight prices in Europe for an extended period,” Wilson told WELT.

While a Greenpeace study recently revealed that German trains are still 51 percent more expensive than flights, the German government seems to be at least tentatively looking in the opposite direction from where Wilson is pointing, towards the country’s Verkehrswende (mobility transition). But with aggressive pricing tactics still pressuring travellers to fly and ongoing questions about how to fund affordable train travel like the Deutschlandticket, Germany will have to commit if it wants an alternative to budget air travel to work once Ryanair has hiked its prices.

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