Spanish Airline Volotea Swoops in as Ryanair Exits French Airports Amid Tax Hike

On July 30th, Ryanair announced its withdrawal from three French airports, namely Bergerac (Dordogne), Brive (Corrèze) and Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), due to the "excessive increase in the air tax, which was increased by 180% in March 2025". The Irish low-cost airline describes the solidarity tax on airline tickets (TSBA) which has increased from €2.63 to €7.40 on March 1st, 2025, as "astronomical", stating that this tax "makes France less competitive compared to other EU countries like Ireland, Spain or Poland."

Less than a week after this announcement, Strasbourg-Entzheim airport has just informed that the airline Volotea will operate the two routes to Agadir in Morocco and Porto in Portugal, previously managed by Ryanair. The Spanish low-cost airline, which already operates two-thirds of the routes from Strasbourg airport, will take over the two routes from November 29th, with two weekly flights to Porto and one to Agadir, according to ICI Alsace. During the Christmas period, these routes will be operated on Tuesdays and Saturdays, it is specified.

Established in Strasbourg for thirteen years, the Spanish company already connected Marrakech (Morocco) and Faro (Portugal). In total, Volotea serves 27 destinations to France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Morocco and Portugal. It aims to transport six million passengers from this airport.