Ryanair will close its Berlin base and reduce its based aircraft from nine to seven due to persistently high access costs at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. This move eliminates 750,000 seats and six routes, including Brussels, Chania, Kaunas, Krakow, Luxembourg, and Riga.
The carrier is redirecting capacity to lower-cost markets in Italy, Poland, and Spain. Berlin remains the priciest airport in Ryanair’s German network, prompting a 20% traffic cut announced in August.
These reductions exacerbate Ryanair’s broader German pullback, with prior closures at Frankfurt Hahn, Berlin Tegel, and Dusseldorf following rejected pilot pay-cut deals. Summer 2026 schedules show Berlin losing another 150,000 seats, a 5% drop, despite partial tax relief.
High taxes, fees, and ATC charges have driven 12% capacity cuts for summer 2025, closing bases in Dortmund, Dresden, and Leipzig/Halle while trimming Hamburg by 60%. Germany faces the steepest losses, with 800,000 winter seats and 24 routes axed.
This strategic retreat underscores operational pressures on low-cost carriers, potentially raising fares, curbing competition, and shifting traffic to more viable EU hubs.