Ryanair closes BER base as 210 jobs go and Emirates deal falls through

Ryanair is closing its base at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) as of October 24. Seven aircraft of the Irish low-cost carrier previously stationed in Schönefeld will be moved abroad, for example to Sweden, Italy, Slovakia or Poland, according to the airline. "The planes will then simply spend the night elsewhere," Ryanair's Germany manager Marcel Pouchain Meyer said, according to tagesschau. Pilots and cabin crew are leaving with the aircraft, a total of 210 jobs lost at BER, according to tagesschau. Ryanair will keep flying to Berlin, but its capacity drops from 4.5 million to 2.2 million seats a year. Routes to Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote are being dropped entirely.

Ryanair cites high costs: aviation tax and security fees have doubled since 2019, air navigation charges have more than tripled, and BER's airport charges have risen by 50 percent, with a further 10 percent announced through 2029. The airline calls BER "Europe's most unsuccessful airport." The Verdi union and pilots' association Vereinigung Cockpit suspect a link to the only works council at a German Ryanair base, set up a year and a half ago. "Of course we have no evidence of that," said Verdi's Dennis Dacke. Ryanair denies any connection.

For the airport, the withdrawal is another setback. According to tagesschau, it also emerged on Friday that a deal with Emirates that had been envisaged will not materialize; the airline will continue not to serve BER. The airport expects 25.7 million passengers in 2026, down from 26.1 million the year before, and only 25 million to 25.2 million in 2027. BER chief executive Aletta von Massenbach had called Ryanair's withdrawal a "heavy blow" and announced cost cuts. The airport is sticking to its goal of breaking even at group level by 2030 at the latest. BER opened in 2020, nine years late, and cost more than seven billion euros instead of the planned two billion.