Ryanair has seen two of its landing slots at Eindhoven Airport (EIN) revoked as too many of its flights were arriving late. In a rare move, the Dutch slot regulator has removed the Irish low-cost carrier’s rights to these slots during the 2026 summer season, stating that its flights have been arriving an hour late on average.
The airline has hit back at the decision and submitted appeals to the European Commission and local courts, arguing that it is the most punctual carrier in Europe and is being unfairly penalized.
Eindhoven Airport Revokes Ryanair Slots Over Late Arrivals
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As first reported by Eindhovens Dagblad, the Dutch airport has lost patience with repeated late Ryanair evening arrivals, revoking two slots held by the carrier during the next summer season, which runs from March through to October 2026. The problem concerns two Monday evening and Thursday evening slots at around 8:00 PM, which Ryanair has allocated for flights arriving from Sofia (SOF) and Pisa (PSA), respectively.
Airport Coordination Netherlands (ACNL), which is in charge of coordinating slots across the country’s airports, has made the unusual decision to revoke the slots entirely, a penalty it rarely issues. It pointed to over 30 late flights during a three-month period in summer 2025, and claims it had already warned Ryanair about its consistently late arrivals for these slots, even suggesting that the carrier’s poor on-time performance was “deliberate.”
Ryanair blasted the decision as “unprecedented, irrational and disproportionate.” In a statement to the Metro, a Ryanair spokesperson said,
“ACNL are penalising airlines for ATC delays that push flights just 15 minutes over their scheduled arrival time, which is completely out of whack with the vast majority of European airports, where the threshold is much higher and more reasonable.”
Dutch Court Rules In Favor Of Eindhoven Airport
Credit: Eindhoven Airport
Ryanair was formally warned of its tardiness regarding the aforementioned slots before being handed unspecified sanctions in August, according to the NL Times. The carrier then launched an appeal once it learned the two slots had been revoked, but a local court ruled against the airline, arguing that ACNL’s right to distribute Eindhoven’s sought-after slots in a fair manner was more important.
However, Ryanair says it has lodged an appeal with the European Commission, expressing its confidence that ANCL’s decision will be overturned while pointing towards Europe’s beleaguered air traffic control (ATC) ecosystem as being behind most delays. The two slots have reportedly been held by Ryanair for years, but will now be open to bids from rival carriers.
Slot discipline at a capacity-constrained airport like Eindhoven — which ranks as the Netherlands’ second-busiest behind Amsterdam Schiphol — is particularly important, as repeated delays can have a knock-on effect on other flights. Eindhoven also maintains strict noise emission rules and night curfews, so the timing of Ryanair’s late evening arrivals couldn’t be worse.
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Ryanair’s European Cutbacks
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The slot losses in Eindhoven would sting more were it not for Ryanair’s aggressive network cuts in Europe, with the carrier already dropping millions of seats from its schedule due to higher fees and taxes. This includes scrapping 800,000 seats from its Germany network this winter, as well as 1.2 million seats to Spain next summer and a significant reallocation of resources away from France.
Ryanair has served Eindhoven Airport since the 1990s and is one of its largest carriers, alongside Transavia and Wizz Air. Collectively, these three airlines are responsible for over 90% of flight movements in Eindhoven. Ryanair has played a key role in the airport’s growth, quickly growing to become the airport’s largest carrier.
At times, Ryanair was operating over 50% of flights out of Eindhoven and has proven pivotal in establishing it as a low-cost airport. The Irish budget carrier will still maintain a significant presence in Eindhoven despite its slot losses, now serving over 30 destinations from the Dutch airport.
