Brandenburg Airport, Berlin. Photo: Shutterstock Ryanair criticizes the regional aviation authority of Berlin-Brandenburg after its flight FR144 from Berlin to London was grounded over the weekend due to the implementation of a night flight ban, despite the delay being caused by a minor technical glitch.
According to the airline, the flight was scheduled to take off just five minutes after the night ban began (23:00), but even under these exceptional circumstances, the authority refused to permit a late departure.
Ryanair reports this is the second instance this week where passengers were forced to spend another night in Berlin due to the flight ban, following a similar incident on a flight to Lisbon on Sunday.
The Irish company states in a special announcement: they urge the aviation authority LuBB to urgently introduce flexibility in the strict and discriminatory night ban enforced at the Berlin airport. This comes after a delay of flight FR144 from Berlin (BER) to Stansted (STN) resulted in not receiving take-off approval, as it was scheduled to depart less than 5 minutes after the start of the night flight ban."
The company further states: "The delay was due to a minor technical fault, beyond Ryanair's control. Despite the exceptional circumstances, the LuBB authority once again refused to provide any relief in the ban, resulting in the flight remaining on the ground overnight - causing significant and preventable inconvenience to passengers."
Marcel Meier, Head of Communications for Ryanair in the German-speaking region, said:
"It is unacceptable for passengers to be punished this way over a minor delay caused by a technical issue. Berlin's rigid and inflexible regulation first and foremost affects passengers, disregarding unforeseen events. It is absurd."
Ryanair calls on the head of the aviation authority, Carsten Dickmann, to act immediately to revise this policy and create flexibility in cases of delays beyond the control of airlines.