Ryanair has announced that it will discontinue its “Prime” membership programme on 28 November, ending an eight-month trial that attracted 55,000 subscribers. Existing members will continue to receive exclusive monthly low-fare offers until October 2026, but no new customers can join as of today.
The €79-per-year subscription, launched earlier this year and covered by Aviation24.be in March, offered frequent travellers benefits such as free reserved seating, travel insurance, and access to 12 annual seat sales. Ryanair had initially positioned Prime as a cost-effective option for regular flyers, with potential savings of up to €420 for those travelling at least 12 times per year.
However, the airline now says the programme was not financially sustainable.
Ryanair CMO Dara Brady explained that while Prime generated more than €4.4 million in membership fees, participating customers received over €6 million in discounts. “These membership numbers and revenues do not justify the time and effort involved in organising monthly exclusive seat sales for our 55,000 members,” he said. Ryanair added that all existing Prime members will continue to enjoy their promised benefits for the remainder of their 12-month subscription period.
As Europe’s largest airline, with more than 207 million passengers expected this year, Ryanair says it will now refocus its efforts on delivering the lowest fares to all customers rather than maintaining a programme that benefits only a small subset of travellers.