Ryanair’s decision to fully withdraw from Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport by March 27, 2026 is sending shockwaves through central France, where the low cost carrier has provided some of the last affordable international links for business travelers, residents and the sizeable Portuguese and Moroccan diasporas.

The move, which will see the end of routes to London Stansted, Porto and Fès, comes as the Irish airline intensifies a Europe wide reshaping of its network in response to rising ticket taxes and higher charges at regional airports.

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Ryanair Confirms Exit Date and Routes Affected

Airport officials in Clermont-Ferrand confirmed on January 25 that Ryanair will cease all operations at Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport from March 27, 2026. The carrier currently operates three regular routes from the regional hub, to London Stansted in the United Kingdom, Porto in northern Portugal and Fès in Morocco. All three will end at the close of the winter 2025–26 season.

The announcement follows several days of speculation after local media reported that Ryanair had notified the airport of its intention to pull out. Ryanair has not suggested any seasonal return or partial scaling down. Instead, Clermont-Ferrand is being dropped entirely from the network, in contrast with other French destinations such as Bergerac that have seen only winter reductions in past years.

For Clermont-Ferrand, whose traffic has struggled to recover to pre pandemic levels, the impact will be immediate and quantifiable. Airport management and local officials estimate that Ryanair accounts for close to 40 percent of passenger traffic. With three international routes disappearing at once, forecasts point to a drop in overall throughput of at least a quarter from spring 2026, a major blow for an already fragile platform that once relied heavily on domestic links to Paris.

Airport Under Pressure as Regional Model Shows Strain

The loss of Ryanair draws renewed attention to the precarious position of Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport and, by extension, many of France’s regional platforms. Even before the pandemic, the airport had been warned about its financial vulnerability. Local representatives have previously called for state support, estimating that injections of around 10 million euros were needed to secure its future and restore a Paris Orly connection viewed as vital for the local economy.

Since 2020, the airport’s net income has reportedly remained negative despite annual turnover in the mid teens of millions of euros, a sign that operating and infrastructure costs are increasingly difficult to cover with limited traffic and slim airline margins. The end of direct flights to the French capital after Covid related restructuring already weakened Clermont-Ferrand’s position in the national aviation network. Losing its primary low cost operator now compounds those woes.

Regional business groups warn that the decision could accelerate a cycle of decline. With fewer direct links, the attractiveness of the Auvergne for investors and tourists risks diminishing, which in turn complicates efforts to attract new airline partners. Airport authorities say they are in talks with other carriers, including hybrid and regional operators, but acknowledge privately that replacing a large low cost player on three international routes at short notice will not be easy.

Tax Policy and the Cost of Flying from France

Ryanair has made clear that its retreat from Clermont-Ferrand is not about weak demand on the routes in question. Union representatives and local officials point out that load factors on the London, Porto and Fès services often reached between 95 and 98 percent, unusually high even by low cost industry standards. Instead, the airline is pointing the finger at what it calls a hostile fiscal environment for short haul aviation in France.

Central to its complaint is the steep increase in the French solidarity tax on airline tickets, a departure levy that was significantly raised in the 2025 budget to help fund climate transition measures. For economy tickets on domestic and European flights, this charge has reportedly risen from just over 2.60 euros to 7.40 euros per passenger. While the change may appear moderate from a full service fare perspective, it can be material for ultra low fares where base ticket prices frequently start below 20 euros.

Ryanair has already cited the same tax rise as the trigger for cutting services at other French regional airports, including Vatry in the Marne and several smaller platforms such as Brive and Strasbourg. The airline argues that such levies, combined with airport and air traffic control fee increases, disproportionately affect budget carriers and regional airports, where price sensitivity is higher and yields lower. Industry analysts note that while environmental charges are gaining traction across Europe, their design and timing can strongly influence where airlines choose to deploy limited capacity.

Local Backlash and Political Fallout

The airline’s departure is also feeding into a broader political debate in France about regional equity and the distribution of public investment. Longtime conservative figure and former interior minister Brice Hortefeux, who heads the mixed syndicate that oversees the airport, sharply criticized what he called an “avalanche” of taxes and charges undermining transport links in medium sized cities. He argued that the withdrawal cannot be blamed on Clermont-Ferrand’s management or passenger demand, but on national choices about how to tax aviation.

Union representatives at the airport have echoed the frustration, while focusing on the operational fallout. They stress that Ryanair’s flights were among the best performing in terms of occupancy and that staff fear knock on effects on jobs and working conditions, even if Ryanair’s own crew and handling operations are relatively light compared with full service carriers. Local MPs and mayors, already campaigning for increased subsidies and the restoration of a Paris route, now face the added challenge of explaining to voters why their region is losing yet another connection.

Environmental advocates, for their part, counter that the eco tax is a necessary tool to reflect aviation’s climate impact and to encourage modal shift to rail where possible. They argue that subsidies and tax breaks for air travel in regions served by high speed trains are hard to justify at a time of tight budgets and ambitious decarbonization targets. Clermont-Ferrand, however, sits in a geographic grey zone. While it enjoys rail links, journey times to major hubs like Paris and Lyon remain significantly longer than from many other regional cities, strengthening the argument from local leaders that air connectivity remains essential, at least for certain markets.

Passengers and Diaspora Communities Left with Fewer Options

Among the most immediate losers from Ryanair’s exit are travelers who rely on the direct connections to London, Porto and Fès for family visits, seasonal work and short breaks. The London Stansted route has played an outsized role in linking Auvergne’s students, professionals and tourists with the United Kingdom’s capital region. With the flight gone, most will be forced to travel overland to Paris or Lyon to pick up alternative services, adding both time and cost.

The end of the Porto route is particularly sensitive. The Auvergne region hosts a long established Portuguese community that has used the Clermont-Ferrand connection as a lifeline for frequent visits and cultural exchange. Local press reports that flights to Porto regularly operated at very high capacity, especially during holidays and summer. For many, the direct low fare option helped maintain close ties without the logistical hurdles of long car journeys or complicated rail and air combinations.

The loss of the Fès service also cuts a direct bridge to Morocco, another country with strong historical and family links to France. As with Porto, Moroccan origin residents and students will now have to contend with multi leg itineraries, often via Paris airports that can be both more expensive and less convenient. Travel agencies in the region warn that the combined effect could be a decline in outbound tourism from central France and a redistribution of inbound traffic toward better connected coastal and metropolitan areas.

Part of a Wider European Retrenchment Strategy

Ryanair’s decision in Clermont-Ferrand does not exist in isolation. Over the past two years, the airline has systematically reshaped its European footprint, largely in response to shifting tax regimes and airport fee policies. In Portugal’s Azores, the carrier has announced that it will cancel all flights from March 2026, citing what it describes as unsustainably high airport charges and a new travel tax, a move that will wipe out six routes and around 400,000 annual seats in one stroke.

In France, the pattern has been similar. The company has reduced or suspended operations at several secondary airports after the increase in the solidarity tax, often moving aircraft to countries or regions that offer fee waivers or tax reductions. Executives have been explicit about this strategy, warning national governments that they will reallocate growth to jurisdictions viewed as more supportive of low cost aviation and post pandemic tourism recovery.

At the same time, Ryanair has announced record growth in airports and regions that have rolled back or scrapped local travel taxes. In Italy’s Abruzzo region, for example, the carrier unveiled an 80 percent capacity increase for Pescara after local authorities eliminated a municipal tax on departing passengers. Company officials present such cases as proof that fiscal incentives translate directly into new aircraft, routes and jobs, though critics point out that the airline’s bargaining tactics can leave smaller airports exposed to sudden reversals if political winds shift.

Clermont-Ferrand Looks for New Partners and a New Strategy

With Ryanair’s exit date now set, attention in Clermont-Ferrand has turned to what comes next. Airport management says it is in active discussions with a range of potential partners, from European low cost competitors to regional and hybrid carriers that might be interested in point to point services or feeder routes into larger hubs. The challenge, insiders concede, is to find airlines with aircraft and crew availability for summer 2026 and beyond, at a time when demand is strong across Europe and many fleets are fully committed.

One scenario under consideration is a refocusing of the airport’s business model away from pure low cost tourism traffic and toward a more balanced mix that includes charter operations, business connections to major hubs and possibly public service obligation routes supported by regional or national funding. Some local leaders are pressing for a renewed push to secure a daily or near daily link to Paris Orly or Roissy, arguing that this would do more to support the local economy than seasonal leisure flights, even if the latter attract headlines.

Others argue that Clermont-Ferrand must embrace a multi modal vision in which the airport is only one part of a wider connectivity strategy, working more closely with rail and road operators to create seamless journeys. In this view, the loss of Ryanair, while painful, could act as a catalyst for a broader debate about how central France connects to the rest of the country and to Europe in a decarbonizing world. For now, however, the priority is damage limitation, reassuring travelers and businesses that the region is not being cut off.

A Test Case for the Future of Regional Air Travel in France

The unfolding situation in Clermont-Ferrand is likely to be watched closely by policymakers, airlines and other regional airports across France and the European Union. It raises fundamental questions about how much connectivity small and mid sized cities can realistically sustain in an era of higher environmental expectations, tight public finances and increasingly assertive airlines. It also exposes the delicate balance between using taxes to steer behavior and inadvertently undermining the very regions that depend most on affordable air links.

If new carriers step in over the coming year to replace some of the lost routes, Clermont-Ferrand’s experience may be framed as a temporary setback and a lesson in diversification. If, on the other hand, aircraft stands remain empty and passenger numbers slide further, the airport could become a symbol of the limits of the low cost model in heavily taxed markets and of the challenges facing inland regions far from Europe’s main travel corridors.

For passengers booking trips in and out of central France over the next 18 months, the message is already clear. After March 27, 2026, the familiar Ryanair aircraft painted in blue and yellow will no longer be part of the landscape at Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport. What replaces them, and on what terms, will say much about the future of regional air travel in France and about how the country reconciles environmental objectives with territorial cohesion.