Photo: Stutterstock Ryanair has announced its plans to shut down its seven-aircraft Berlin base on October 24, 2026, cutting the number of flights to/from the German city by half for the Winter schedule.
The airline has announced that all aircraft wil be reallocated to lower-cost airports in other states part of the European Union, which have already abolished aviation taxes. The list includes Sweden, Slovakia, Albania, and Italy.
Ryanair at BER. Photo: Uwe Michael Neumann / Shutterstock"This is a direct result of Berlin Airport’s recent notice that it will again raise fees by another 10% from 2027 to 2029 when its already high airport fees have increased by 50% since Covid even as Berlin’s traffic collapsed by 30% from 36m in 2019 to 26m in 2025," explained the airline.
"German aviation policy has failed its citizens as it relies on high aviation taxes and excessive airport costs to combat hopeless inefficiency," added Ryanair.
The company highlighted that, since 2019, the country's "harmful aviation tax has more than doubled", reaching €15.50 per passenger from €7.30 while also mentioning security fees have doubled from €10 in 2024 to €20 per passenger by January 2028, and ATC fees trebled from €1 to €3.30 per passenger.
Ryanair went on to call Berlin "the most failing airport in Europe", arguing that, "instead of introducing lower cost traffic recovery incentives for airlines to recover this traffic collapse, Berlin Airport has decided to further increase its already high prices by another 10% making Berlin hopelessly uncompetitive versus competitor European airports who are cutting fees to grow, and where Governments are abolishing travel taxes.""
"Regrettably, all Ryanair Berlin-based pilots and cabin crew received notification today of the intended base closure from 24 Oct ’26. Staff consultations will begin shortly. All flight crew can secure alternative positions elsewhere in the Ryanair network across Europe," explained the company, further announcing it will accelerate job and traffic growth by switching the seven aircraft in Berlin to lower-cost airports "in zero aviation tax countries elsewhere in Europe."
Ryanair DAC CEO Eddie Wilson: “Despite Berlin Airport losing 30% of its pre-Covid traffic thanks to its excessive airport charges, and Germany’s stupid aviation tax regime, they have now decided to increase charges by a further 10% which will result in the loss of more than 2m Ryanair seats p.a. and 7 based aircraft. Ryanair will still serve Berlin but on a/c based outside Germany and our Berlin traffic will fall by 50% from 4.5m to 2.2m pax in 2027."
"German aviation is broken. Since 2019, Ryanair has been forced to close its bases in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Stuttgart (resulting in the loss of 13 based aircraft) in addition to stopping all flights to Dresden, Leipzig and Dortmund. Today Ryanair announces the planned closure of our 7 aircraft base in Berlin with further cuts across Germany now inevitable."
"These cuts in high tax, high cost Germany come at a time when Ryanair is growing traffic across Europe by almost 70m passengers p.a. (from 149m in 2019 to 216m in 2026) since Covid, but our Berlin traffic will now collapse by at least 50% in 2027 as a result of Germany’s harmful aviation tax and Berlin airport’s high and rising fees," the CEO went on.