Ryanair says the tax will make Denmark’s regional airports “hopelessly uncompetitive” compared to other EU countries.

Ryanair has announced it is axing all flights to and from Aalborg Airport in Denmark from the end of March. It means the country will lose 1.7 million seats and 32 routes for the summer, the budget airline said.

Ryanair has also confirmed it will close its base at Billund, another destination in Denmark, where it has two aircraft.

The move comes “in response to the [Danish] government’s short-sighted decision to introduce an aviation tax of up to DKK 50 [€6.70] per departing passenger from Jan 2025, coupled with Billund’s failure to agree a competitive long-term agreement”, the airline said in a press release.