Ryanair Set For First Paris Orly Routes

Ryanair has secured slots at Paris Orly (ORY), marking the Irish airline's debut at the airport.

French airport coordinator Cohor has allocated 840 slots to the carrier for the summer 2025 season, enabling it to launch daily flights to Bratislava Airport in Slovakia and Milan Bergamo Airport in Italy.

The slots are part of a pool of 8,112 slots available for reallocation at ORY, with 50% reserved for new entrants under European Union rules.

Until now, Ryanair has focused its Paris operations on Paris Beauvais-Tille Airport (BVA), where it accounts for 82% of scheduled capacity in December 2024, according to OAG Schedules Analyser data. The airline also operates some flights from Paris Chalons-Vatry Airport (XCR).

BVA is located 56 mi. from central Paris and XCR is 100 mi. away. By contrast, ORY is just 11 mi. south of the city center, offering Ryanair a closer link to the French capital.

However, while the ULCC has secured slots for service to Bratislava and Milan Bergamo, it did not receive approval for 12 other routes it applied for. According to data from Cohor, Ryanair also sought to operate flights to destinations including: Cologne Bonn, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; Gdańsk, Poland; Girona, Spain; Kaunas, Lithuania; Reggio Calabria, Italy; and Wroclaw, Poland.

The move comes less than a month after the airline warned that it expects to cut capacity on French regional routes by up to 50% starting in January 2025 if the French government pushes ahead with a plan to increase passenger taxes. The French Parliament is debating plans to increase tax on air tickets as it seeks to raise an extra €1 billion ($1.06 billion) in tax from aviation as part of its overall 2025 budget.

Ryanair serves 22 airports in France, with its largest base being at BVA, followed by Marseille, Toulouse, Nantes and Nimes. It is the only operator of scheduled flights from French cities Beziers, Carcassonne, Dole, Nimes, Poitiers Biard and Tours Val de Loire. The airline has been approached for comment regarding the ORY slot allocation process.

In addition to Ryanair’s allocation at ORY, other airlines granted slots for summer 2024 include Air Corsica, Air Europa, easyJet, French Bee, LOT Polish Airlines, Volotea, and Wizz Air.