Volotea replaces Ryanair as Spain's Asturias airport regains international flights

One of the main travel changes in Spain in 2025 was Ryanair’s decision to slash 2 million+ seats and scrap numerous flight routes in Spain throughout this and the upcoming year as a result of an ongoing dispute with Spanish airport operator Aena, over what the Irish carrier has said are “excessive” airport fees.

Spain’s smaller regional airports, considered less profitable, have been the most affected by Ryanair’s decision.

Asturias is among them, as the airline headed by Mike O’Leary said that by summer 2026 they would no longer operate Ryanair flights to Dusseldorf, Brussels and Rome and cease all operations at the airport near Oviedo, Gijón and Avilés.

However, Spanish low-cost competitor Volotea announced on Friday in a press conference in Oviedo that it would swoop in and start operating two of these three cancelled routes from Asturias airport in 2026 (Brussels and Rome), and open new ones to Paris, Florence and Porto.

Volotea plans to launch all these flight routes from Asturias in March, with the exception of Florence, which is scheduled to begin operations in September 2026.

It will also increase weekly frequencies from Asturias for its domestic flights to Valencia, Alicante, Seville and Málaga.

This is welcome news for Asturias’ one million inhabitants, which had seen the availability of easy international travel considerably diminished following Ryanair’s decision to cease all operations there.

It can also be regarded as a win for Aena given its ongoing spat with Europe’s biggest airline, as Volotea's move suggests other airlines are willing to step in and replace Ryanair.

READ ALSO: 'Spain's airport fees aren't high' - Wizz Air dares Ryanair with 17 new routes

Spain's airport operator has just announced that the airport fees it charges airlines will continue to be at a discounted rate at regional airports until the 2028 winter season.

These are the incentives that Ryanair has criticised for years as insufficient, one of the reasons that led them to punish Spain’s smaller airports in particular.

In September, Ryanair announced the closure of its Santiago de Compostela base and the cancellation of flights to Vigo (both airports in the Galicia region) as well as cutting all flights to Tenerife North, and a reduction in capacity to Santander and Zaragoza.

Ryanair already completely withdrew from Valladolid and Jerez airports in January, impacting the two airports enormously.

Aside from the aforementioned, Ryanair also slashed its Asturias-London Stansted route at the start of 2025, leaving the Vueling flight to Gatwick as the only flight to the UK.

READ ALSO: Ryanair threatens further cuts at Spanish airports for 2026 winter season

Instead, the Irish airline has been betting more on Spain’s most popular airports, increasing flight routes to touristy parts of the country such as Málaga, Alicante, Barcelona and Madrid.

This undeniably contributes to the problem of overtourism in Spain and a poorer distribution of tourists across the country.