Ryanair adds 17 new winter routes from Sicily, 88 total with 11 based aircraft

Quick summary

Ryanair will run 88 winter routes from Sicily in the 2026 season, 17 of them new, using 11 aircraft based across Catania, Palermo and Trapani-Marsala. The carrier projects more than 12.5 million passengers a year, up 9%, and says the programme supports over 9,500 Sicilian jobs.

Two Catania services — Dublin and Wroclaw — do not begin until March 2027. A further five aircraft and $500 million depend on whether Sicily extends its airport tax relief to Palermo and Catania.

What the winter 2026 Sicily schedule actually contains

Ryanair’s published winter programme lists 88 routes from Sicily, 17 of them new. Seventeen additions across three airports is roughly one in five of the winter network — enough to change connection options, not enough to reshape the island’s fare structure on its own.

The aircraft split is uneven by design: five based at Catania, five at Palermo, and one at Trapani-Marsala. Catania and Palermo each pick up an additional aircraft, while the Trapani-Marsala base now runs the full winter rather than part of it, according to Ryanair’s Italian-language release.

Catania takes the largest share of new flying — Alicante, Dublin, Gdansk, Memmingen, Porto, Rimini, Valencia, Warsaw and Wroclaw. Palermo adds Tirana, Sofia, Prague, Parma, Gdansk and Dublin. From Trapani-Marsala, the additions are Milan Malpensa and Verona.

Ryanair puts the programme at more than 12.5 million passengers a year, a 9% increase, supporting more than 9,500 jobs. Those are the airline’s own projections, not measured traffic — treat them as the intended outcome rather than a result already banked.

Launch fares start at €24.99, bookable through the Ryanair app. That figure is a marketing entry point, not the all-in cost; baggage and airport charges sit on top of it.

The firm baseline is the 11 aircraft. Everything past that is conditional. Ryanair has asked regional president Renato Schifani to extend the municipal surcharge removal to Palermo and Catania, and says that if it happens it would base five more aircraft in Sicily, invest an additional $500 million, carry three million more passengers a year and create more than 2,400 jobs.

That is a negotiating position as much as a plan. Until the regional government decides, travelers should read the extra capacity as an offer, not a timetable.

Why Sicily’s tax relief is now a template argument

Two policy fights are running at once here, and they move at different speeds. The local one is the addizionale municipale — a per-passenger levy municipalities stack on top of Italy’s national departure tax. Sicily removed it at its smaller airports from January 2026. Extending that relief to Catania and Palermo is a political decision, not an automatic consequence of the published schedule.

The Brussels fight is slower and larger. Aviation inside the EU sits under the Emissions Trading System, and the European Commission’s proposed revisions would shift how emissions costs fall across short-haul and long-haul flying. Ryanair argues the changes risk making domestic and intra-European flights more expensive while many long-haul services outside the EU keep lighter treatment. It also says Sicily is shut out of sustainable aviation fuel support funded through the ETS — support it says reaches Corsica, Malta and Cyprus.

The Commission’s own position is narrower than that framing. Its aviation decarbonisation materials state that ETS-backed SAF support depends on where fuel is supplied, with outermost regions and certain islands receiving enhanced treatment. Eligibility turns on geographic classification, not on being an island.

ReFuelEU sets the backdrop: a 2% SAF blend at EU airports from 2025, rising toward 70% by 2050 under the EU’s sustainable aviation fuel framework. SAF costs substantially more than conventional jet fuel, so every percentage point of mandate is a cost line that eventually reaches a ticket.

Tax relief is the cheapest capacity lever a regional government has — cheaper than subsidy, faster than runway, and reversible the moment the politics change. That is precisely why Ryanair is spending a press conference on it.

How to book Sicily this winter without overpaying

Sicily’s winter capacity is real, but the cheapest seats and the newest routes come with conditions attached.

• Check your dates against March 2027. Dublin and Wroclaw from Catania do not operate before then, so a winter booking on either city pair will not exist yet.
• Compare the same itinerary on ITA Airways, Wizz Air and easyJet. Ryanair’s release lists its own routes, not rival frequencies, so verify connection times directly before assuming the new nonstop is fastest.
• Price the all-in fare, not the headline. The €24.99 promotion excludes checked bags and airport charges, which can multiply the total on a family booking.
• Track the surcharge decision. If relief extends to Palermo and Catania, departure costs at those airports could fall — and the five extra aircraft could follow.

Watch: the Sicilian regional government’s ruling on extending the municipal surcharge removal to Palermo and Catania. It determines whether the additional aircraft and $500 million appear at all.

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