Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, has completely removed Türkiye from its flight programme, confirming an earlier report by Turizm Ekonomi in July that the carrier was preparing to withdraw from the Turkish market.
The airline had operated services from Dublin, London Stansted and Bratislava to Bodrum and Dalaman, with a combined schedule of 40 flights per week and approximately 480 flights annually.
Türkiye has now been completely removed from Ryanair’s flight programme.
Turkish tourism representatives had sought to keep flights operating
Following Turizm Ekonomi’s July report, Enver Kantarmış, Chairman of the TÜRSAB Bodrum Regional Executive Board, and Ömer Faruk Dengiz, Chairman of the Bodrum Hoteliers Association (BODER), held talks with Ryanair Commercial Manager Brian Mitchell to discuss possible solutions and ways to maintain the airline’s services to the region.
At the time, Dengiz said they were exploring options to resolve the issue and were expecting a proposal from the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) to help ensure the continuation of flights.
He explained that Ryanair had put its Türkiye programme on hold due to rising costs, adding that the airline had not completely withdrawn from the country at that stage and was still in discussions with Milas-Bodrum and Dalaman airports.
Dengiz also said Ryanair had certain expectations from TGA, which had not been met.
“Ryanair had certain expectations from the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA). As these expectations were not met, they took a step back. We will now hold a meeting with TGA in the coming weeks to discuss what can be done to resolve the issue,” Dengiz said at the time.
Ryanair serves 24 destinations in Spain and 15 in Greece
Ryanair’s complete removal of Türkiye from its flight programme follows the discussions held by Turkish tourism representatives to retain the airline’s services.
The carrier continues to operate flights to multiple destinations across several Mediterranean and European markets.
According to the figures cited in the report, Ryanair serves 35 destinations in Italy, 24 in Spain, 15 in Greece, seven in Croatia, four in Portugal and two in Cyprus.
