Overview
- Ryanair, which announced the move on Friday, will shut its Berlin Brandenburg base on 24 October 2026 and cut winter flights by about 50 percent.
- The carrier will remove seven aircraft from BER and place them at lower‑cost airports in Sweden, Slovakia, Albania and Italy while continuing Berlin service from other non‑German bases.
- Ryanair links the cuts to what it calls a planned 10 percent rise in BER fees for 2027 to 2029, but the airport operator says no such increase is planned and notes talks are underway.
- About 210 Berlin‑based pilots and cabin crew are slated to be offered jobs elsewhere in Europe, while the union ver.di says roughly 500 workers could be affected and plans talks starting April 28.
- Ryanair expects its BER traffic to fall from roughly 4.5 million to 2.2 million passengers, will drop routes such as Bologna, Pisa and Tallinn, and faces a German ticket tax that is due to be reduced on July 1 but may not change its cost calculus.