Ryanair to Close Seven Aircraft Berlin Base Due to Rising Costs
- Joe Breitfeller
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Ryanair has announced that from October 2026 they will close their seven aircraft Berlin base due to untenable economics. According to the carrier, BER traffic has collapsed 27 percent since the pandemic, while costs have risen 50 percent, and are set to rise further.
On Friday (April 24, 2026), Ryanair announced plans to close their seven aircraft Berlin Brandenburg (BER) base on October 24, 2026, thereby reducing the number of flights they operate to and from Berlin by 50 percent for winter 2026/27. The carrier will reallocate these aircraft to lower cost airports in other EU states that have abolished aviation taxes like Sweden, Slovakia, Albania & Italy. According to Ryanair, this move is a direct result of Berlin Airport’s recent notice that it will again raise fees by a further 10 percent from 2027 to 2029, when its already high airport fees have increased by 50 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic, even as Berlin’s traffic collapsed nearly 30 percent from 36 million in 2019 to 26 million in 2025.
In Friday’s announcement, Ryanair DAC’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said,
“We regret to announce this planned closure of our 7 aircraft Berlin base from 24 Oct 2026, but we have no alternative following the Airport’s latest 10% fee increase to its already high airport fees. This comes on top of the 50% increase in Berlin’s airport fees since 2019. 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. The Govt. admits that it is uncompetitive, yet there is no strategy to cut aviation taxes or high airport fees – despite Ryanair warning that Germany would lose traffic, connectivity, jobs and trade. 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.
“Efficient operations and competitive airport fees are the foundation which enable Ryanair to deliver long-term traffic growth and increased connectivity for airports and regions. This is impossible at Berlin following the German Govt’s failure to abolish its harmful aviation tax and Berlin Airport’s decision to again increase its already high airport fees. Ryanair has many other lower cost airports, and zero aviation tax countries across Europe competing for scarce capacity growth, all of whom are taking action to reduce access costs by abolishing aviation taxes, lowering airport charges and reducing ATC fees. With no meaningful cost reform in Berlin or in Germany nationally, we have no alternative but to switch aircraft from Germany to other more competitive markets elsewhere in Europe while Germany and Berlin Airport continue to fail.”
Ryanair has further announced that because of Berlin’s high costs and its latest fee increase notice, the company has notified their Berlin-based pilots and cabin crew members of the intended base closure from October 24, 2026. All flight crew will have the opportunity to secure alternative positions elsewhere in the Ryanair network across Europe since Ryanair will accelerate growth by switching the seven Berlin-based aircraft to lower cost airports in zero aviation tax countries elsewhere in Europe.
Source: Ryanair
