Ryanair Opens Its Largest Maintenance Hangar at Madrid Barajas

MADRID — Ryanair (FR) has inaugurated its largest maintenance hangar at Madrid Barajas (MAD), a €25 million investment that will accommodate seven aircraft and create 700 skilled jobs in engineering, mechanics, and support.

The new 22,000 m² facility, located in the airport’s industrial area, is designed to strengthen Ryanair’s operational presence in Spain and enhance maintenance reliability as the airline expands its schedule.

Ryanair renews focus on airport charges

At the hangar opening, F reiterated its criticism of Spain’s airport charges under operator Aena, citing a 6.5% approved increase for 2026 and warning that further rises could harm Spain’s competitiveness compared to lower-cost markets.

Aena has said its proposed fee path is linked to a multiyear investment cycle (including a major Madrid expansion program) and has argued the average impact per passenger would be relatively small.

Sweden Summer 2026 expansion

In related news, FR has announced its Summer 2026 network update for Sweden, with plans to base eight aircraft (six at Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) and two at Gothenburg (GOT)), operate 83 routes, including five new ones, and target 4.4 million annual passengers, a 15% increase.

Ryanair Factsheet

• Scale: Ryanair Group says it carries about 208 million passengers a year on roughly 3,800 daily flights from 95 bases, serving 220+ airports in 36 countries.
• Fleet size (current): Ryanair’s corporate site lists a fleet of 647 aircraft (as of March 3, 2026).
• Big future orderbook: Ryanair says it has 300 Boeing 737 MAX 10s on order (to 2034), aimed at growing to 300 million passengers per year by FY34.
• Group structure: Ryanair Holdings is the parent of Ryanair DAC, Ryanair UK, Malta Air, Buzz, and Lauda Europe.
• Recent traffic snapshot: Ryanair carried 13.3 million passengers in February 2026 with a 92% load factor, per published monthly traffic updates carried by Yahoo Finance.