Low-cost carrier Ryanair has decided to close its base at “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport for the winter season.

More specifically, the company said it would shut down its Athens base from October 29 to the end of March, the Irish airline is releasing two of its aircraft from “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport, reducing its flights from the scheduled 29 to 10, a move that almost halves its capacity.

Ryanair will maintain 10 routes from Athens to Dublin, London, Brussels, Milan, Bologna, Rome, Budapest, Katowice, Vienna, and Malta, no longer parking any aircraft at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport. This means that the four bases it had in Athens in 2019 and last year became two, which will be zero this winter season.

As Ryanair maintains, the reason was due to the lack of incentives from the Greek airline and Fraport Greece, which also manages other regional airports, to boost its passenger traffic in the winter season. In fact, according to sources, the Irish company blames the government and “Eleftherios Venizelos” for maintaining non-competitive fees.