Ryanair has announced a new flight route from Teesside International Airport to Malaga as part of its new winter schedule, which includes nine new destinations. The service will operate twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with a journey time of just over three hours to the popular Spanish hotspot.
The eight other destinations launching from Malaga will be Bratislava in Slovakia, Lübeck and Münster in Germany, Stockholm Västeras in Sweden, Warsaw in Poland and three Czech Republic flight routes. Ryanair will also add extra flights to popular routes from Malaga, including Dublin, Copenhagen, Fez, and Milan. This will total 83 new routes for winter 2025/2026, and the airline said this combined with higher frequencies will increase Ryanair’s winter season capacity in Malaga by 7%.
It comes after Ryanair cut one million seats from its Spanish winter 2025/2026 schedule, which it attributed to the “excessive” 6.62% increase in AENA charges, Spain’s airport authority.
It also attributed the cuts to “ineffective” incentive plans, which it said makes “regional airports financially unviable”.
Its statement said: “Ryanair has long championed and invested in regional airports, supporting low-cost access to boost tourism and employment, but it cannot justify continued investment in airports whose growth is blocked by uncompetitive charges.”
Ryanair’s full winter 2025/2026 schedule is now available for booking online, with flights to and from Malaga starting from €24.99 (£21.70) for travel until the end of March 2026.
Alejandra Ruiz, Ryanair’s head of communications in Spain, said the increase gives customers “even more options at the lowest fares”.
They added: “Despite the excessive AENA charges, which have contributed to the loss of *2 million seats in 2025 in other regions, Ryanair remains committed to Malaga, with 15 aircraft based at the airport, supporting over 6,800 local jobs.”
Most of Ryanair’s winter flight schedule for 2025/2026 will be operated with the 15 aircraft based in Malaga. The airline said the announcement represents an investment of $1.5 billion, supports over 6,800 local jobs, and boosts year-round tourism in Malaga.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
