Madeira suffers a loss this summer, with 580 fewer flights

Tobi Hughes·
Madeira News

The operations scheme planned for the next IATA summer season represents the loss of 580 flights to the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

In total, there will be 63 thousand fewer seats between March 31 and October 26, compared to the same period in 2023. The data is provided by the consultancy ‘SkyExpert’, which reveals that the reduction is caused, overwhelmingly, by Ryanair.

The topic forms the headline of this Monday’s printed edition of DIÁRIO, where we also learn that a pilot with hundreds of landings in Madeira argues that Airbus and Boeing should carry out studies to overcome the effects of wind at the airport.

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Tobi Hughes

24 Responses

  1. I may be wrong but the numbers of cruise ships visiting this winter also seems to be fewer than before? Has the always increasing numbers of tourists finally reached a breaking point?

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    2. Firstly I wouldn’t trust Boeing to carry out any study and also maybe now the tourist frenzy has peaked and is now dropping off perhaps with the airport issues not helping.

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    1. You mean there too many flights and cruise ships to suit you. The effects of the loss of visitors on the Madeiran economy is of no interest. Nice.

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  3. How do you not understand that all this is destroying the island. There is a limit to how much tourism and population a small island can maintain. If you love this island as I do you would not encourage endless expansion of tourism and immigration. Money, money, money is not the solution.

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    1. Totally correct Richard, you only have to look at Tenerife, it’s being totally destroyed, sewage in the ocean everyday as the system can’t cope, locals are starting to protest. There is only so much an island is built for.

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    3. … Richard? there is No Problem with Immigration … but it appears that YOU have issues with “people” coming to Madeira that YOU Dislike …

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  4. To all those who knock and deride Ryanair, this is what happens without them. Ryanair, decided to reduce the number of flights when the price rises by the Airport Operator didn’t suit their economic model. Their economic choice, they chose to make more money by using their aircraft on more profitable routes. They are a business not a charitable institution. As a result of this lessening of competition the other operators have increased their fares. I normally visit four times a year, this year it will be three and and at different times to my usual. As an example, Manchester/ Madeira arriving mid December leaving second week in January, last year with Ryanair £382, this year Birmingham Funchal, same dates Tui £880, Jet2 £1050.

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  5. “Money, money, money is not the solution.”

    It isn’t if you’ve already got it.

    It’s not destroying the island, it’s changing it. The same as it changed the Algarve, the Balearics and the Costas. Ask the locals living and working there if they would like to go back to the good old days. Ask the Madeirans. I’ve been visiting Madeira for over 50 years and I don’t like some of the changes but I don’t begrudge any advantages this has given the Madeirans.

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  6. Ryanair is a transport company for tourists who cant afford airtravel. Not a big loss to Madeira.

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    1. Anyone who is happy to spend more money on a service no better than a cheaper alternative purely because he can has a problem.

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  7. I too have become disadvantaged by Ryanair scrapping their routes to Madeira. I travel to my family in Ireland several times a year and it was wonderful when suddenly there was a direct connection to Dublin. It looks like this is one of the routes Ryanair will stop. So there is no advantage for me.

    I agree that many of the changes have been a benefit for Madeira and it’s people. But there is a limit and a line to be drawn. Ask the Madeirans who have had to sell their property in Funchal and move out to the surrounding areas because everything in Funchal is too expensive for them to reinvest. Now they have to commute, because their work is still in Funchal. Thus the via rapida is becoming a duplicate of the M20 in London or the E40 in Belgium.

    This island needs to be managed better, but the managers here simply pocket their brown envelopes. This is a paradise simply going down the toilet and it could be so much better. More tourists and more immigrants is not the answer. More construction and more concrete pouring is not the answer.
    The Costas, the Algarve and Balearics are not examples we should be aspiring to. God help us.

    Where is all the money going to from the million tourists who came here? Not into the pockets of most Madeirans. With a population of 250.000 not one single Madeiran should be paying any tax at all.

    We have a paradise here. Lets try to keep it that way.

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    1. … Again Richard? What is YOUR Problem with “People” coming to Madeira to live and work ,, it sounds as if YOU have Issues with outsiders …

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      1. What Richard said is spot on! Facts don’t care about your feelings (you obviously don’t understand his message)

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  8. You keep telling us more tourists, immigrants, construction and concrete is not the answer. Your alternative is what?

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  9. How about the government creates a “Think Tank” to come up with innovative ideas.
    There must be many people with development ideas that cannot get off the ground because of bureaucratic obstacles or financial constraints.
    When I first came to the island, many years ago, I had an idea and the possibility to open a small vehicle assembly operation in the duty free zone. I had many meetings with many people. The idea was a good one but it was defeated by the Portuguese bureaucracy at the time. The vehicles are now constructed in China.
    Time to think and act outside the box. It’s never too late.

    By the way, I am not against tourism at all. I worked in it for about 40 years. But there has to be limits for this island.
    We seem to have all our eggs in one basket. Never a good idea.

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  10. One of the biggest problems with the island is the one thing that makes it precious, the terrain but it’s also one of it’s biggest deterrents to development. Agriculture has to be almost manual labour because of the difficulty of using machines, in most European countries a level site for a factory, how ever small can be carved out of the soil in weeks, in Madeira it’s a major task just to get a suitable road to the would be site. If sites and the huge finance could be found then planning permission would be bedevilled by the same objectors who don’t want Madeira to change from their vision. I wish I could see further than tourism but ugly new cable cars ruining it’s beauty is not the answer.

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  12. Maybe it’s because all the younger people who came to Madeira as it was one of the few places open during the pandemic are now going to back to such lovely resorts as Magalluf .

    Reply

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