Two Ryanair routes have disappeared from Bratislava for the winter. From Košice, the carrier will fly 13 percent more often this winter than last year

Anyone hoping to fly from Bratislava to Scotland’s Edinburgh or Turkey’s Dalaman over the winter is out of luck. Both routes have disappeared from Ryanair’s booking system, although the Irish carrier operated them regularly last winter. It is the Slovak trace of a Europe-wide cut through which the airline is responding to fuel prices — and only half the story, because Košice is moving in exactly the opposite direction. SME ↗

Why the carrier is cutting

On 2 September, Ryanair announced that it had carried 22.2 million passengers in August, six percent more than a year earlier, while also lowering its passenger target for the financial year ending on 31 March 2027 from 216 million to 214 million. It stated the reason in the press release headline itself — it wants to reduce its exposure to unhedged fuel during the winter. Ryanair ↗

In practical terms, this means two million seats will disappear from the offer between November and March. Ryanair expects a loss in winter, and according to the company, fewer flights should reduce it by €70 million to €100 million. "In light of high unhedged oil prices it is sensible to strategically reduce the group's exposure to unhedged jet fuel during the unprofitable winter schedule from November to March," the company said. Travel Gossip ↗

The key word is unhedged. The airline has price hedges for roughly 80 percent of its planned fuel consumption for the current financial year at $67 per barrel. For the remaining 20 percent, however, it pays the market price, which for jet fuel is around $140 per barrel. Oil rose to $97 per barrel on Wednesday, 2 September, its highest level since the start of June. The Irish Times ↗

What has been dropped from Bratislava

In its 2 September announcement, Ryanair did not specify which routes it was cancelling — it published only the overall figure. The SME daily therefore compared the booking system with last year’s winter timetable and found two routes that are no longer there: Edinburgh, served twice a week, and Dalaman, with one weekly flight. Pisa, which the carrier only launched at the end of March this year, was not included in the winter offer either. SME ↗

It is worth distinguishing here, because not every missing route is a cut. Gdansk and Leeds did not operate last winter either, and according to SME they will most likely return in the summer timetable from the end of March, as will purely summer destinations such as Burgas, Alghero, Corfu, Skiathos and Zadar. And the carrier is not behind two other disruptions at all: you will not be able to get to Naples in November because the local airport has announced a closure for runway reconstruction, while Eindhoven will suspend flight operations for the same reason from 1 February 2027 and is expected to resume them on 19 July. SME ↗

At the same time, Bratislava is gaining something. A route to Morocco’s Agadir will be added from the end of October, while year-round staples such as Barcelona, Alicante, Bari, Palermo, Rome and Athens remain. SME ↗

Eastern Slovakia is growing

While two Bratislava routes are missing from the winter offer, the carrier is adding flights from Košice. Ryanair unveiled its winter timetable for Košice, under which it will fly to five cities: Malaga twice a week, Prague five times, London Stansted four to five times, Dublin twice and Liverpool three times. The number of weekly flights from Košice will therefore rise by 13 percent year on year. Aktuality ↗

The biggest addition is Malaga. Until now, it was a purely summer route. It will now also operate during winter and, according to the carrier, will be the only direct connection from eastern Slovakia to Spain during the winter. According to Aktuality, a return ticket could be bought for just under €70. Košicak.sk ↗ Aktuality ↗

Košice Airport is entering winter after record results. In July 2026, it handled more than 150,000 passengers in a single month for the first time. More than 616,000 people passed through it in the first seven months, an increase of more than 35 percent year on year. On scheduled routes, passenger numbers rose by as much as 55 percent. For 2025, according to Aktuality, the airport increased its profit by almost a third to €2.4 million, on revenue of €21.3 million. Aktuality ↗

A new connection will also be added from Poprad, where competitor Wizz Air will open it. On 25 October, it will launch a direct connection from Poprad-Tatry Airport to Prague three times a week — on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday — with fares from around €25. The flight itself takes about one hour and ten minutes, while the train from Poprad to Prague takes roughly seven hours — though the comparison must also include the journey to the airport, security checks and the transfer from Prague airport to the city. In October, the Gdansk–Poprad route, aimed mainly at Polish visitors to the Tatras, will also return after its summer break. Aktuality ↗

What this means for airfares

Ryanair explicitly warned that if high oil prices persist until summer 2027, airfares on short European routes will rise significantly. The Irish Times ↗

Competition also acknowledges the same pressure. According to the Hungarian weekly HVG, Wizz Air told website 24.hu that capacity reductions should be expected first, followed by pricing measures depending on how supply and demand develop. It did not rule out price increases: "Persistently high costs will inevitably be reflected in airfares over time," Wizz Air said in its response to 24.hu, as quoted by HVG. HVG ↗

Ryanair added a sharper comment about its competitors — those without fuel hedged to a similar extent may, it said, struggle to survive the coming winter. This is Ryanair’s assessment, not that of its competitors. Asked whether it agreed, Wizz Air responded more cautiously: persistently high prices will, in its view, put pressure especially on carriers with weaker balance sheets, higher unit costs or limited hedging, and for some this will first show up in capacity cuts. HVG ↗

Despite high fuel prices, Ryanair expects a profit for the current financial year, although lower than in the previous year. From November to March, it plans to carry approximately as many passengers as during last winter. The Irish Times ↗ Travel Gossip ↗

Photo: A water salute for a Ryanair aircraft at Košice Airport. By Simona5585, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. The image has been resized.