If you bought a Ryanair ticket in 2015, paying €10-25 for a one-hour intra-Europe hop was normal. In 2026 the same routes typically start at €30-50 even booked weeks ahead. The headline fares haven't gone up dramatically, but the all-in price has. Where did the cost come from?
Fuel is the biggest single input. Jet fuel went from ~$2.20 per gallon in 2019 to oscillating around $3.00-3.50 in 2024-2025. Fuel is 25-30% of a low-cost carrier's operating cost — so a sustained 40% fuel-price increase translates roughly to 10-12% on the total cost-per-seat. That alone moves a €15 base fare to ~€17.
Airport fees keep climbing. Secondary airports where Ryanair built its model — Beauvais, Hahn, Charleroi — kept their charges low for years. As they've become busy enough to renegotiate, the cheap-airport advantage shrinks. Primary airports like Vienna, Lisbon and Berlin Brandenburg now levy higher per-passenger fees than they did pre-2020.
Air traffic control fees in EU airspace rose ~30% from 2019 to 2024 as Eurocontrol absorbed pandemic-era deficits. Every flight pays them.
EU 261 compensation became more expensive after 2019 court rulings made it apply more broadly. Carriers reserve more cash per passenger for likely-claims compensation; that's baked into ticket prices.
Climate pricing. The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) extended free allowances reductions for aviation starting in 2024, so airlines pay carbon allowances on more of their European flights. This adds €2-6 per intra-EU passenger today, projected to climb to €8-12 by 2027.
Ancillary growth. Bags, seat selection, priority boarding — the unbundled costs have grown faster than base fares. The headline €19.99 sticker now leads to €40-60 once you check a bag and pick a seat. This is what makes the comparison to 2015 confusing.
What's the practical takeaway? On routes where train and flight are both available and the distance is under 800 km, the price gap that justified flying through a non-hub airport plus connecting transfers has narrowed. The honest answer is that the train often wins on price now, not just on time and carbon.