SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the
month of March 2026
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file
annual
reports
under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F..X.. Form 40-F
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information
contained
in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the
Commission
pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities
Exchange
Act of
1934.
Yes
No ..X..
If
"Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant
in
connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________
RYANAIR
OPENS ITS LARGEST MAINTENANCE HANGAR AT MADRID
AIRPORT
€25 MILLION
INVESTMENT REVITALISES
BARAJAS' INDUSTRIAL AREA
& CREATES 700
HIGH-SKILL JOBS
Ryanair, Spain's No.1 airline, today (Wed, 18 Mar)
inaugurated its new €25 million maintenance centre at Madrid
Barajas Airport - the largest in the Ryanair network. With capacity
for 7 aircraft, this 22,000 m² state-of-the-art
facility, located in the airport's industrial area, will create 700
high-skill jobs, including engineers, mechanics, and support roles,
further strengthening Spain and Madrid's position as a leading hub
in European aviation.
This
new hangar adds to Ryanair's existing maintenance facility in
Barajas, bringing its total capacity to 8 aircraft lines of
maintenance. In addition, Ryanair also operates a modern 5-bay
aircraft maintenance centre in Seville, opened in 2019, which was
extended in 2021, and represents a further €30 million
investment in Spain.
The
Madrid facility is now a central part of Ryanair's Maintenance
Engineering network with 7 EU locations, with Madrid performing
both routine A-checks along with more specialised engineering work.
Ryanair is also working closely with Madrid's best aviation schools
to train and recruit engineers and mechanics for this new
maintenance centre under its in-house Engineer Development
Programme.
Ryanair,
which is Spain's largest airline, is also one of Spain's largest
foreign investors, and a key contributor to the country's tourism
and industrial sectors. With 62 million passengers p.a in Spain, a
fleet of 109 aircraft across 11 bases, two maintenance centres, a
recently commissioned crew training facility, along with an IT
innovation hub in central Madrid, which in total brings Ryanair's
investment in Spain to €11bn.
Ryanair is Spain's largest airline but its ability
to continue investing and growing in Spain is running out of road
due to deteriorating competitiveness on airport access costs that
will accelerate the migration of routes, tourism and jobs to more
competitive, lower cost airports elsewhere in Europe. While Aena's
recent +6.5% increase had a significant impact on traffic cuts at
Spain's regional airports, the latest proposal to increase charges
by +21% (before inflation) over the next five years will undermine
competitiveness and growth across the entire Aena network of
Airports. Sadly, this programme of increases will establish Spain
as a high-cost tourism destination closed to economic growth and
job creation. This trend has accelerated with
Ryanair growing
this summer at its lowest level in many years of just 0.5%. Spain
needs efficient cost-effective airports with competitive pricing to
attract airline investment that in turn, boosts economic
growth. If
Spain wants to continue to grow airline investment, traffic,
tourism and jobs, the Govt must take action to open up existing
empty capacity at airports along with competitive pricing, which
will incentivise all airlines to grow with lower charges. The Govt
must also ensure that extensions to larger airports are competitive
and not gold-plated facilities.
Today's
inauguration was attended by Jose Luis Martinez-Almedia, Mayor of
Madrid, as well as local authorities and representatives from
Spain's aviation sector.
Ryanair DAC CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:
"We are pleased to announce another major Ryanair investment in
Spain; Today we inaugurate our new 22,000 sqm state-of-the-art
7-bay maintenance hangar in Madrid - the largest across the Ryanair
network - representing a €25 million investment and creating
700 high-skill, high-pay engineer and mechanic jobs, supported by
our industry-leading Engineer Development Programme. This new
facility will play a crucial role in supporting Ryanair's
operations as we grow to 800 aircraft and 300 million passengers by
2034.
Ryanair is not only Spain's
largest airline, but one of Spain's largest foreign investors, with
109 aircraft based across 11 bases, two maintenance centres
(Seville and Madrid), a state-of-the-art crew training centre,
along with an industry-leading IT innovation hub in central Madrid,
amounting to a total investment of €11bn. Our operation
provides over 10,000 direct Ryanair jobs and supports a further
400,000 jobs, contributing over €28bn to the Spanish economy
(2% GDP). However, our ability to continue investing and growing in
Spain has almost topped out due to Spain's deteriorating
competitiveness, which is progressively getting worse. Regional
airports with huge potential to grow are being held back by
excessive charges, and major airports like Madrid, Barcelona,
Malaga and Alicante, are now going to be extended at exorbitant
cost to justify Aena's +21%
charge increase plus inflation by 2031, despite the sector
projecting sufficient traffic growth to absorb these wasteful
investments without raising airport fees. This trend has recently
accelerated with Ryanair set to grow this summer at its lowest
level of just 0.5% in Spain, when Ryanair is growing by 11% in
Morocco and 9% in Italy.
Spain is missing the key factor that so many Govts and airports
across Europe have recognised, that rapid traffic, tourism and jobs
growth come from low cost, efficient facilities with competitive
airports, not gold-plated facilities where prices continuously
rise. If the Spanish Govt wish to reverse this trend and continue
to grow airline investment, traffic, tourism and jobs for Spain,
they must change policy to have a cost competive airport pricing
system to open up existing spare capacity at airports where Aena
has failed with its existing pricing strategy."
ENDS
For further information
please contact:
Ryanair Press Office
T: +353-1-9451799
E: press@ryanair.com
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.
Date: 18
March, 2026
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By:___/s/
Juliusz Komorek____
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Juliusz
Komorek
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Company
Secretary
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