Ryanair to cut flights to Berlin due to 'sky-high costs'

Ryanair blamed high access costs and German government policy on Tuesday as it announced a 20% cut to traffic at Berlin-Brandenburg airport starting next summer.

The Irish airline has repeatedly warned that it planned to reduce its presence in the German capital and move capacity to other EU countries if Germany did not meet its demands.

What did the airline say?

Ryanair said the cuts would see the number of its aircraft based in Berlin reduced from nine to seven. This, it said, would result in the loss of six routes serving Brussels, Chania on the Greek island of Crete, Kaunas in Lithuania, Krakow in Poland, Luxembourg and the Latvian capital, Riga.

Instead, the budget airline said it would switch capacity to other lower-cost EU countries like Italy, Poland and Spain.

Ryanair had previously warned that it would take such a step if the German government failed to reverse a recent 24% increase in aviation tax.

The airline wants the tax to be ultimately abolished. It is also urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government to rein in "soaring" air navigation charges and to defer an increase in caps on security fees that airports may charge.

As it announced the cuts, the airline slammed Germany, and particularly Berlin, over the speed of recovery of the market in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Germany's air travel recovery is the slowest in Europe at just 82% of its pre-COVID levels, and Berlin airport is one of the worst recovered airports in Europe, lagging far behind the rest of its German and European counterparts," the airline said.

It cited "excessive access costs and chronic mismanagement," at the "heavily underutilized" airport, which opened almost a decade late in 2020 at a cost of about €7 billion — more than triple the original estimate. 

How did the airport respond?

The Berlin-Brandenburg airport, the only hub serving Germany's capital, voiced regret at Ryanair's decision but added that it understood the criticism.

"The state air traffic tax alone has more than doubled since 2019," a Berlin-Brandenburg airport spokesperson said.

"The entire industry has been criticizing this development for some time."

Germany's Transport Ministry declined to comment on individual company decisions. However, it said it was "examining measures to mitigate the significant increase in air traffic control charges for arrivals and departures."

rc/nm (Reuters, dpa)