Ryanair's Double-Digit Fare Rise, and the Price of Reaching Tuscany

Ryanair said on Monday that it would launch a cost-cutting drive and raise fares next year to offset soaring jet fuel prices driven by the Middle East war. The Local Italy headlined the increases for passengers in Europe as "double-digit" hikes in air fares.

The airline is among the biggest carriers at Italy's secondary airports. Tuscany's two commercial gateways, Pisa's Galileo Galilei and Florence's Amerigo Vespucci, depend heavily on the short-haul European traffic that low-cost carriers opened up.

Low-cost flying reshaped the Tuscan visitor economy long before the pandemic: weekend traffic from across northern Europe turned Pisa into a rival to Florence for arrivals, and put hill towns within reach of a two-night stay.