Ryanair launches record London summer schedule despite APD hike and fuel supply warning
Ryanair, the UK’s largest passenger airline, launched on April 1, 2026 its Summer schedule for London. The low-cost carrier is operating 194 routes including 5 new routes from Luton to Wroclaw, and from Stansted to Forli, Glasgow, Malmö and Parma.
Ryanair has also added extra frequencies on 50+ other routes including Alicante, Barcelona, Faro, Lisbon, Madrid, Malaga and Malta.
To support this modest traffic growth, Ryanair bases one additional aircraft at London Stansted for Summer 26. This brings Ryanair’s total London-based fleet to 57 aircraft (a $6 billion investment) and creating 30 new, highly paid, jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers.
Ryanair continues to modestly grow its traffic in London, and across the UK. With expected traffic of 61m passengers in 2026, Ryanair confirms its position as the UK’s biggest passenger airline, carrying nearly twice as much passengers as British Airways.
However, the British government’s “harmful decision” to increase the UK’s APD tax will make the UK, especially its regional airports, even less competitive versus EU markets such as Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia and regional Italy, where governments are abolishing aviation/environmental taxes and lowering access costs to drive traffic, tourism and jobs growth.
According to Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, the carrier has submitted plans to the Starmer Government to grow UK traffic by 33% to 80 million passengers over the next 5 years, but this growth will only be delivered if the latter reverses this APD hike and abolishes the tax, which is now the highest aviation tax in Europe.
Jet fuel shortage to come in Europe from May ?
In the meantime, the buoyant Ryanair CEO highlighted to British TV network Skynews that jet fuel deliveries to Europe may face disruptions starting in May if the conflict in the Middle East persists. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), roughly 25% to 30% of Europe’s jet fuel demand indeed is sourced from the Persian Gulf.
O’Leary told Skynews that if the conflict ends and the Strait of Hormuz reopens by mid- or late April, supply concerns would likely ease. However, if fighting continues and disruptions persist, he warned that between 10% and 25% of Ryanair’s fuel supply could be affected over the following months.
So far, Ryanair did not reduced flights since its current fuel supply remains stable. However, he cautioned that ticket prices could climb significantly through April, May, and June by at least 3% year over year.
Related News Stories: Ryanair launching three new Liverpool routes - TravelMole Ryanair rolls out rescue fares for Eastern Airways customers Ryanair rolls out increased carry-on allowance - Travel Mole Malta posts record tourism spend and EU's fastest growth in bed nights Faro Airport entered the 10-million-passengers club in 2025 Vienna recorded best ever tourism year in 2025 - Travel Mole Ryanair unveils Lapland winter 2025/26 programme - TravelMole Record summer 2026 as Bratislava Airport expands to 77 routes Port of Aberdeen hails record cruise season - Travel Mole Ryanair's new Chania, Rhodes flights take off at Bournemouth
newadmin
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
Qatar Airways offers reduced timetable to over 60 destinations
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025
Marginal increase for New York City tourism in 2025
Hands In, UATP join forces for airline multi-card payments