Ryanair Adds 17 Routes and Two Aircraft to Expand Sicily Winter 2026 Flights

The 88-route programme spans Catania, Palermo and Trapani-Marsala, with Ryanair forecasting 12.5 million annual passengers across the island.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Ryanair's Sicily winter 2026 network includes 88 routes, of which 17 are new.
• Two additional aircraft will be based in Catania and Palermo, while Trapani-Marsala will remain a base for the full winter.
• New Catania services to Dublin and Wroclaw are scheduled to begin in March 2027.
• Ryanair forecasts over 12.5 million annual Sicily passengers, up 9%, and is urging broader abolition of a municipal passenger surcharge.

Ryanair is expanding its winter network across Sicily with 17 new routes and two additional based aircraft, giving travellers more ways to reach the Mediterranean island outside its peak summer season. The airline’s winter 2026 programme covers 88 routes from Catania, Palermo and Trapani-Marsala, while its annual traffic forecast for Sicily has risen to more than 12.5 million passengers.

The schedule, announced on 21 October, brings an extra aircraft to each of Catania and Palermo and extends the operations of the Trapani-Marsala base through the full winter season. Ryanair says it will have 11 aircraft based on the island: five at Catania, five at Palermo and one at Trapani-Marsala. The carrier values the combined based-aircraft investment at US$1.1 billion.

New European connections from three Sicilian airports

At Catania, Ryanair is adding routes to Alicante, Dublin, Gdansk, Memmingen, Porto, Rimini, Valencia, Warsaw and Wroclaw. The airline specifies that its new Dublin and Wroclaw links from Catania begin in March 2027 rather than during the earlier part of winter 2026.

Palermo gains connections to Dublin, Gdansk, Parma, Prague, Sofia and Tirana. Travellers using Trapani-Marsala, in western Sicily, will see new services to Milan Malpensa and Verona. Together, these additions broaden travel choices between Sicily and destinations across Italy and the rest of Europe, including cities useful for short breaks, visiting friends and relatives, and inbound tourism.

The 12.5 million passenger figure is a yearly projection across Ryanair’s Sicilian operations, not a forecast of travellers carried during the winter season alone. The carrier describes the annual total as a 9% increase and estimates that its local activity supports more than 9,500 jobs; those employment figures are Ryanair’s estimates rather than a separate count of newly created roles.

Airport charges remain central to Ryanair’s expansion plans

The wider announcement also puts airport costs at the centre of the airline’s strategy. Sicily removed the municipal passenger surcharge at smaller airports from January 2026, and Ryanair credits that change with encouraging the development of its Trapani-Marsala base. The carrier is now calling for the charge to be abolished at the larger airports of Palermo and Catania as well.

Ryanair says such an extension would make it willing to base five further aircraft in Sicily, representing a proposed additional US$500 million investment, and could contribute another three million annual passengers and more than 2,400 jobs. These are conditional proposals made by the airline, not investments or services that have already been committed.

Jason McGuinness, Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer, said that extending the tax abolition would allow the airline to offer more travel options and lower fares for Sicilian residents and visitors. Alessandro Aricò, Sicily’s Regional Minister for Infrastructure and Mobility, described expanded connectivity as part of the regional government’s transport strategy, alongside its Flight Bonus scheme supporting residents’ travel.

Ryanair also raised concerns over European Union aviation emissions rules. It argues that Sicily receives less favourable treatment than certain other European island regions in the availability of support for sustainable aviation fuel, and that proposed changes to the EU Emissions Trading System could increase costs for short-haul travellers. Those policy comparisons and anticipated cost effects are the airline’s position, not independently established conclusions.

For passengers considering the new links, Ryanair is promoting a seat sale with advertised fares starting at €24.99 through its app. Specific travel dates, availability and fare conditions may vary. The larger timetable signals a continued push to make air links to Sicily less dependent on the traditional summer travel season.