Ryanair Prime loyalty program ceases operations: what happened

Ryanair announced the closure of its Prime loyalty program less than a year after its launch, as passengers received more discounts than the company earned from subscriptions. Find out why the program turned out to be unprofitable, what changes await passengers, and how long the privileges will remain in effect

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Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has decided to discontinue its Prime loyalty program less than a year after its launch. The reason is quite unusual for the aviation market: participants received more benefits than the airline did in terms of revenue.

Why is Ryanair Prime closing?

According to The Independent, passengers received more than €6 million in ticket discounts during the program's eight months of operation. At the same time, the total amount they paid for participating in Prime was only €4.4 million.

In other words, the bonuses exceeded the revenue, and the “trial period” turned out to be unprofitable for the company.

Ryanair's marketing director, Dara Brady, explained:

“We registered over 55,000 Prime members. However, they received more discounts than they paid for their subscription. Therefore, the trial launch turned out to be more expensive than we expected.”

Ryanair acknowledged that there was demand for the program, but the monthly exclusive sales required too many resources that did not pay off.

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What did the Prime program offer?

The annual subscription, costing €79, included:

free seat reservations;

free travel insurance;

access to 12 exclusive sales per year — one each month;

the ability to book an unlimited number of flights at discounted fares;

regular email notifications with personalized offers.

In fact, Prime gave users access to permanent discounts that quickly offset the cost of the subscription.

What will change for passengers?

As of November 28, 2025, Ryanair has closed registration for new members. However, the current 55,000 customers will be able to enjoy the benefits of the program for almost another year — until October 2026.

The airline emphasizes that the focus is now shifting to all passengers, not just the Prime group:

“With more than 207 million passengers this year, Ryanair will continue to focus on providing the lowest fares in Europe to all our customers,” the company said.

The Prime program turned out to be too generous: large discounts made it unprofitable for Ryanair. Despite this, current members will still have access to exclusive offers for almost a year, and other passengers can count on the continued low fares that have become the hallmark of the low-cost airline.

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