The Irish budget airline Ryanair will close its base in Chania, Crete and reduce its domestic flights within Greece.

According to the airline’s announcement on Thursday, from June 1 the airline will cut back its domestic flights in Greece and transfer one aircraft from Athens and another from Chania to Germany, where it is expanding its services.

“Ryanair’s base in Chania will close, with the result that four, low-frequency flights from Chania to Venice, Vilnius, Katowice and Memmingen will be abolished. Ryanair will continue to link Athens with Mykonos, Santorini and Thessaloniki this summer. All the other domestic flights in Greece will be cancelled,” said the company’s announcement.

The Irish airline explained that “charges made by Greek airports, in their majority, encourage flights only in summer and only to international destinations; flights that need fewer aircraft in Greece. So, two aircraft will be transferred from Greece to Germany where they can generate higher performance on an annual basis. Ryanair remains open to discussion with airport authorities on formulating a development plan for all airline companies that will support flights throughout the year and justify additional aircraft with a permanent base in Greek airports,” stated Ryanair Sales and Marketing director for the Eastern Mediterranean Nikolaos Lardis.