Irish budget airline Ryanair has announced that it will reduce its flight volume at Berlin Brandenburg Airport by 20 percent, making good on its threat to reduce its presence in the German capital because site fees there are among the highest in Europe.
The cuts, which will result in a loss of 750,000 seats from the start of the summer schedule in April 2025, include a reduction in Ryanair’s Berlin-based aircraft from nine to seven, the airline said as it raised its summer fares forecast.
Ryanair also announced that six routes to Brussels, Krakow, Riga, Luxembourg, Kaunas in Lithuania and Chania on the island of Crete will be cancelled.
The airline had repeatedly threatened that it would shift its capacities to other EU countries if Germany did not meet its demands to reverse the increase in air traffic tax and reduce air traffic control fees.
The airport, the only one serving the German capital, said it regretted Ryanair’s decision but understood the criticism.
“The state air transport tax alone has more than doubled since 2019. The entire industry has been criticising this development for some time,” said a spokesman for Berlin-Brandenburg Airport.
The German Transport Ministry declined to comment on the decisions of individual companies, but said it was “examining measures to mitigate the significant increase in air traffic control fees for arrivals and departures.”
On Tuesday, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said Boeing management continues to disappoint and deliveries are behind schedule.
In a statement sent to Reuters by email, Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary Eurowings said it was reviewing a plan to expand its offering in Berlin-Brandenburg in 2025. The plan would take into account “competitive aspects, but also concerns about the enormous increase in location costs in Germany.”
According to the German Aviation Industry Association (BDL), the location costs for using its airports in Germany are record high compared to other EU countries.
A typical medium-haul flight with an Airbus A320 costs around 4,400 euros in taxes and fees at Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Düsseldorf airports, according to data from the German Aerospace Center. (Reuters)
