Ryanair has announced that it will suspend 20 percent of its flight traffic at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER). The reason for this is the high access costs, which have not been reduced despite repeated requests from the German government and airport management.
As a result of this measure, the number of Ryanair aircraft based in Berlin will be reduced from nine to seven. Six routes, including connections to Brussels, Riga and Krakow, will be discontinued, resulting in the loss of 750.000 seats. Capacity will be shifted to lower-cost EU countries such as Italy, Poland and Spain.
Ryanair has criticised rising air traffic, air traffic control and security fees in Germany, which are severely affecting the post-pandemic recovery of air traffic. While other European airports are seeing a rapid return to pre-pandemic passenger numbers, Germany is lagging far behind, with a recovery of only 82 percent. Berlin Airport is particularly affected, falling well short of expectations and handling fewer passengers than smaller European airports such as Dublin or Copenhagen. Ryanair warns that if costs remain high, further cuts could follow in summer 2025.