Ryanair Flight Lands at XCR Airport Despite Previous Cancellation Announcement

Travelers were greatly surprised to see a Ryanair plane land on the runways of XCR Airport this Wednesday, April 2, 2025. "We didn’t know if we were going to take off, because Ryanair wasn’t telling us anything. Until the day before yesterday (Monday), we didn’t know," says a passenger to France 3. "We tried to reach them by phone, no way. So we didn’t really know what to do," confides another. The Irish low-cost airline did not provide any information to the departmental council or the airport management on the maintenance or not of its flights, leaving doubt about their confirmation.

The departmental council of the Marne, owner of the airport, announced in mid-March that it had received a letter in which the airline informed it of its decision to cancel its links from the end of March 2025, citing a rise in taxation. The council said it was "as soon as possible" looking for other operators to take over Ryanair’s slots. But according to the latest information, Ryanair would have confirmed its flight schedule and could continue its links this summer.

Ryanair flights represent 85% of passenger traffic at Vatry airport, which is more specialized in freight. From 134,000 passengers in 2016, passenger traffic at Vatry airport fell to 80,000 in 2024. In a report dated March 27, 2025, the regional chamber of accounts of Grand Est raised the question of maintaining passenger transport at XCR Airport, noting that "the maintenance and a fortiori the development of new passenger transport lines must be examined in view of the already high amount of the operating subsidy paid to Vatry airport".

"Established at four million euros in 2023, it was at a level nearly four times higher than in 2016," the report adds. However, estimates the regional chamber of accounts, "the Champagne platform has assets to diversify its activity and generate new revenue sources". It could for example venture into "specialized freight, particularly heavy equipment, where competition is less fierce and profitability higher than in e-commerce-related freight", which would help stabilize activity "at a level between 20,000 and 25,000 tons" per year.