Ryanair. Photo: Shutterstock Ryanair continues to increase its grip on the UK market, announcing its biggest ever winter schedule in the country.
In an official announcement published by the company on September 23, 2026, Ryanair announced that in the 2026 winter season it will operate no less than 435 routes from the United Kingdom, including 22 new routes.
Among the notable new routes: three routes from Stansted to Glasgow, Malmo and Parma, as well as a new route from London Luton to Venice. Alongside these, 18 new routes will be opened from 19 additional airports across the UK.
According to Ryanair, the company is expected to fly approximately 63 million passengers to and from the United Kingdom in 2026.
The company presents itself as the largest airline in the UK in terms of passengers, and claims that this is almost twice the volume of traffic of British Airways in the British market.
Behind the numbers lies an even greater ambition: Ryanair has already submitted a plan to the British government under which it could increase its traffic in the country to 80 million passengers by 2030, an increase of about 27%.
However, alongside the expansion, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary continues to exert heavy pressure on the British government regarding the taxation structure in the aviation industry.
The company is particularly opposed to the Air Passenger Duty, the British passenger tax, which was raised to £15 per passenger on relevant flights in 2026. Ryanair claims that this tax weakens the UK's competitiveness against European countries that have reduced or abolished similar taxes.
At the same time, the company is also attacking an initiative that would allow regional authorities to impose an additional tax on hotel stays.
For Ryanair, the combination of an aviation tax and an accommodation tax could make Britain a more expensive destination for tourists and divert demand to other European countries.
Ryanair makes it clear that its growth plan until 2030 is not automatic.
The company said further capacity expansion in the UK would depend on operating costs and tax policy. If the UK is not competitive enough, Ryanair could redirect growth, aircraft and new routes to other European markets where costs are lower.
This is a message that has been repeated over and over again in the company's announcements in various countries: Ryanair is using its growing fleet of aircraft to reward markets that reduce fees and taxes, while simultaneously cutting or threatening to cut in markets where costs are rising.
In the new announcement, Ryanair also returns to its bitter conflict with the British air traffic control system NATS, after a series of malfunctions that led to widespread flight disruptions last month.
The company has reiterated its demand to replace NATS CEO Martin Rolfe. This is Ryanair's position as part of the ongoing conflict between it and the management of the British air traffic control system.
Despite the harsh criticism, the numbers presented by Ryanair this coming winter make it clear that Britain remains one of its most important markets in Europe: 435 routes, 22 new routes and tens of millions of passengers a year.
The question now is whether the record-breaking winter schedule will become the starting point for another wave of growth or whether the tax battle between Ryanair and the British government will start to move some of the planes to other European countries.