Ryanair is to close its Berlin base and cut its winter schedule to the German capital in half, blaming the country’s rising aviation taxes.
The Irish low-cost airline said the relocation of seven planes to other hubs would reduce the number of passengers in Berlin from 4.5 million to 2.2 million a year, with flights to and from the city from October being operated by planes based at other airports.
Employees in that base were offered transfer to other European locations.
Closed bases in Germany
Eddie Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair’s main operating company DAC, says “German aviation is broken”.
– The government admits it is not competitive, but there is no strategy to reduce aviation taxes or high airport charges, despite warnings from Ryanair that Germany will lose traffic, connectivity, jobs and trade. As of 2019, Ryanair has been forced to close its bases in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart… while completely canceling flights to Dresden, Leipzig and Dortmund, Wilson said, reports Guardian.
The company said a total of 13 aircraft from those bases were lost due to those closures.
German trade union Verdi criticized Ryanair’s plans, calling them a “purely profit-oriented corporate strategy”. Dennis Dacke, head of the federal aviation division at Verdi, said that for too long the company’s employees have been treated as “expendable goods” while location decisions are made based on short-term profit interests.
Fuel shortage
The announcement of the withdrawal comes as airlines face major disruptions and rising costs following the Gulf conflict. The price of jet fuel has more than doubled since the conflict began in late February.
Fines have been eased for airlines canceling flights from the UK due to fuel shortages, with Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary warning the company could cancel up to 10 per cent of flights at the end of the summer if supplies are not stabilised.
While many European airlines have hedged fuel prices in advance, last week’s example showed the potential for further disruption: American Airlines said rising fuel prices this year would increase costs by an additional $4 billion and wipe out expected profits.
Booming rail traffic?
Environmental activists and rail advocates were quick to point out the opportunity the decision could open for the railroad.
– The weakening of Ryanair’s presence at Berlin airport should mean an opportunity for more passengers to use trains instead of planes, Jon Worth, an analyst of European rail policy, told the Guardian.
Berlin has direct train connections to Amsterdam, Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Bern, Stockholm and Paris, while a new daily service to Copenhagen starts this summer. With one transfer, Brussels, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana and Zagreb are also available.
Worth added that rail reliability still needs to be improved and that trains are often more expensive than planes, but that “there is an opportunity for the rail industry if it is willing to take advantage of it.”
Berlin Airport did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
