Wednesday, August 28

“It’s a disgrace”: Ryanair criticises Berlin Airport and withdraws a fifth of its fleet

From summer 2025, Ryanair will reduce its presence at Berlin’s BER airport by 20 percent and completely stop its flights to six destinations, including Brussels, Luxembourg, Riga, Chania on the Greek island of Crete, Kaunas in Lithuania and Krakow in Poland. In addition, the number of aircraft stationed in Berlin will be reduced from nine to seven.

In its statement announcing the decision, the Irish budget airline strongly criticised the German government. It wrote that the situation at Berlin airport was a “disgrace” and complained of “extremely high access costs” and “chronic mismanagement”. Its strongly worded statement reads, among other things: “The bankrupt airport, which opened 10 years late and cost €6.5 billion (more than three times the original estimate), is severely under-utilised and has fewer passengers than much smaller European cities such as Dublin, Manchester or Copenhagen.”

The airline’s criticism was directed primarily at the high costs of flights to Berlin, particularly the air traffic tax and the costs of air traffic control. The Berlin Senate was surprised by the vehemence of Ryanair’s statement. Former mayor and current Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey (SPD) commented: “If it were up to Ryanair, all fees would have to be abolished and the night flight ban lifted. That won’t work,” she said, especially since such fees are not set by Berlin, but by the federal government. “I doubt that Ryanair’s threat to the federal government will be successful… You can’t fly to the German capital for free.”

We will have to wait and see how the negotiations progress, but Ryanair certainly seems to be throwing its weight behind it. The company is currently the largest operator at BER and offers flights to more than 50 destinations in Europe.