Ryanair to cut 50% of Berlin flights and quit Bremen Airport

Ryanair has announced that in late October it will halve the number of flights it runs to and from Berlin. The Irish budget airline will also cease operations at Bremen Airport.

Ryanair halves BER flights

From October 24, Ryanair will cut 12 routes it currently operates out of Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER), according to a report by Berliner Zeitung.

The following destinations will be cut from the winter 2026/2027 schedule: Bologna, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Marseille, Palermo, Pisa, Reggio Calabria, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Trieste and Vilnius. Service frequency on other routes will also be reduced.

As a result, Ryanair’s passenger numbers out of BER will sink from around 5 million to around 2,5 million per year.

The airline also announced that it cut flights in and out of Hamburg by 5 percent and will cease operations out of Bremen Airport, which will cut the airport’s total annual passenger figures by around one-fifth. 

In response, easyJet Germany boss Stephan Erler said his rival budget airline will increase services it runs out of Berlin.

Ryanair maintains German airports are too expensive

The cuts in Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen are just the latest development in a now years-long campaign by Ryanair against airport taxes imposed by the German government.

Senator for Economic Affairs in Bremen, Kristina Vogt (die Linke), accused the airline of demanding access to German airports at prices which would leave airports operating at a loss.

“Ryanair wanted to receive the airport’s services and use its infrastructure virtually free of charge," Vogt said in a press release. “Such a deal is not only disproportionate, but also no longer credible."

Vogt said the city-state had already agreed to compromises during negotiations with Ryanair, but further concessions would result in long-term financial burdens and break laws around how state aid is allocated in Germany.

Bremen said the Irish budget airline was now turning its attention to serving smaller German airports, where rules around state aid allocation are less strict, and using its market dominance to steer negotiations.

Ryanair was Europe’s most profitable airline in 2025. In the six months to the end of September 2025, the company’s profits rose by 42 percent to 2,54 billion euros. 

However, a 256 million euro fine from Italy's competition watchdog for "abusing its dominant position" saw final-quarter profits drop by 83 percent compared to the previous year.