Irish budget airline Ryanair has announced that it will discontinue one-fifth of the flights which it currently runs in and out of Berlin-Brandenburg BER Airport, citing “out of control” aviation tax as a motivation.

Ryanair flights scrapped at BER Airport

From the summer of 2025, Ryanair will reduce the number of flights it runs in and out of Berlin-Brandenburg Airport by 20 percent, the budget airline has announced.

The number of Ryanair aircraft stationed at BER will reduce from nine to seven and flights to six destinations will no longer run; including Brussels, Chania (Greece), Kaunas (Lithuania), Krakow, Luxembourg and Riga.

Ryanair blames German government’s “sky-high access costs”

In a press release, Ryanair named Berlin-Brandenburg Airport and the German government’s “sky-high access costs” as the main motivation for cutting back its fleet in the capital.

In May 2024, Germany’s coalition government increased the country’s aviation tax Luftverkehrsabgabe. 

The increased tax means that on flights within Germany, or to another EU member state, the German government taxes each passenger ticket 15,53 euros, up from the previous 12,73 euro tax. For trips further afield, more than 6.000 kilometres, tickets are taxed 70,83 per head rather than 58,06 euros.

While taxes are paid by airlines, the costs are passed on to passengers, making airline tickets more expensive.

The airline targeted Berlin Airport specifically, claiming that in comparison to other German and European airports, BER has higher air traffic control and security costs, despite welcoming fewer passengers. “Whilst other European cities are lowering access costs, costs in Berlin are out of control,” Ryanair wrote in its statement, calling on the German government to reverse its aviation tax increase and “ultimately abolish it”. 

Responding to Ryanair’s announcement, former mayor and Economics Senator for Berlin Franziska Giffey (SPD) said, “If it were up to Ryanair, all fees would have to be abolished and the night flight ban lifted. That won’t work. [...] I doubt that Ryanair’s threat to the federal government will be successful… You can’t fly to the German capital for free.”

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