Two of the nine Ryanair aircraft currently flying to and from Berlin will be reassigned, the airline said on 27 August 2024. It will end service between Berlin and Brussels, Chania, Kaunas, Krakow, Luxembourg and Riga. Photo: Ryanair

Two of the nine Ryanair aircraft currently flying to and from Berlin will be reassigned, the airline said on 27 August 2024. It will end service between Berlin and Brussels, Chania, Kaunas, Krakow, Luxembourg and Riga. Photo: Ryanair

Low-cost carrier Ryanair has announced that it is cutting 20% of its capacity at Berlin airport and cancelling its service to Luxembourg. It is even threatening to go further if the German authorities do not lift what they called “sky high access costs.” The airline has also complained about Brussels airport and announced nine new routes from Charleroi.

The ultimatum is not even hidden behind Ryanair's secret marketing operation: not only is the Irish low-cost airline announcing a reduction of 750,000 seats (including the route to Luxembourg) and then another 1.5m seats in the summer of 2025, if the German government does not cancel the 24% increase in aviation tax that came into force on 1 May (and does not finally abolish it), does not reverse the increase in air traffic control charges (+100% since 2019) and does not postpone the 50% increase in security charges (from January 2025).

"Germany’s air travel recovery is the slowest in Europe at just 82% of its pre-covid levels, and Berlin airport [editor’s note: 71%] is one of the worst recovered airports in Europe, lagging far behind the rest of its German and European counterparts," says a released by the company on Tuesday morning. "Due to excessive access costs and chronic mismanagement, the bankrupt airport, which opened 10 years late and cost €6.5bn (over 3 times the original estimate) is heavily underutilised and has less passengers than much smaller European cities like Dublin (32m), Manchester (28m) or Copenhagen (27m). "

"Ryanair presented a 7-year growth plan for Germany to both the federal minister for special affairs and the mayor of Berlin in January 2024, but despite this, there has been no meaningful engagement from either the federal or local governments, or from airport management, which instead plans to increase charges rather than reduce costs to attract more traffic," stated Ryanair DAC CEO Eddie Wilson. "As a result, Germany’s capital city will now lose traffic and tourism. These reductions will further damage Germany’s air travel, inbound tourism, economy, and post-covid recovery, while competitor EU capitals, with much lower or zero aviation taxes/fees, will benefit from the growth in Ryanair traffic, which is being redirected from this high-cost, uncompetitive market."

Two of the nine aircraft in the fleet will be reallocated. The Irish airline operates flights to and from Luxembourg from Saturday to Tuesday, while Luxair flies every day of the week in both directions.

At the same time as this press release, the airline organised a press conference in Brussels to present nine new routes from Charleroi (Cork in Ireland, Dubrovnik in Croatia, Göteborg in Sweden, Kaunas in Lithuania, Trieste in Italy, Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Tel-Aviv in Israel).

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary has complained that airport costs at Brussels Airport are "high", making it "more expensive than most competing airports in Europe", adding that, given this environment, Ryanair will not be launching any new destinations this winter.

Read the original French version of this report

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