Ryanair opened its winter 2026/27 schedule with more than 45 new routes in three days starting Oct. 25, and it plans at least 140 new routes over the season with nearly 80M seats across Europe. The new flying spans the UK, Italy, Poland and Morocco.
easyJet is adding 13 new UK winter routes, including Newcastle to Hurghada and London Southend to Edinburgh. Its winter sun push includes London Luton to Rabat from Nov. 5 and Manchester to Cairo from Nov. 9.
Ryanair Is Adding Far More Winter Routes Than easyJet
New winter 2026/27 routes announced, count, as of Oct. 29, 2026
Bar chart. Ryanair: Total Seasonal: New Routes 140. Ryanair: Opening Wave: New Routes 45. Ryanair: New UK Routes: New Routes 22. easyJet: New UK Routes: New Routes 13.
Key Takeaways
- Ryanair is significantly outpacing easyJet in new winter capacity, with 22 new UK routes compared to easyJet's 13.
- Ryanair's 'opening wave' accounted for 45 new routes in just three days, signaling a fast-paced start to their 140-route winter expansion.
- Ryanair's total seasonal strategy remains broad, with nearly triple the number of routes launching throughout the season compared to its initial opening wave.
Source: Simple Flying, Jetsetter Guide, Travel Extra
Taxes are steering the planes
Ryanair closed its Berlin base on Oct. 24, removing 700K winter seats in Germany, and it has been pulling aircraft out of Germany and Belgium over higher aviation taxes and operating costs. Italy is moving the other way, as several regions scrapped a municipal passenger tax of about $7.28, and seven new Poland to Italy routes are part of the opening wave.
Morocco is the other big winner. Ryanair now bases 16 aircraft there, including two at Rabat, and capacity is set to grow by 580K seats, or 12%, across 156 routes as the country prepares to co-host the 2030 World Cup and aims to double visitors.
Ryanair's biggest UK winter yet
Ryanair's UK schedule runs 435 routes this winter, 22 of them new. Liverpool picks up a sixth based aircraft that adds 100K winter seats, Birmingham gets a ninth as part of a $900M investment, and London Stansted averages about 1.2K weekly departures.
More routes don't guarantee cheaper fares, but the Berlin exit shows how quickly Ryanair moves seats once a government raises aviation taxes.
