The sharp rise in costs since 2020 in Germany continues to have consequences for German airports. Admittedly, in the first half of 2024, air passenger traffic reached 97 million, i.e. 10% more than in the same period of 2023. However, the recovery at all of the country's airports remains sluggish. well below what it was before the Covid crisis. Seat supply reached 83% of the 2019 level, compared with an average of 102% in Europe.
The following are particularly affected regional airports which are losing many flights to Lufthansa's two hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. The German airline has already withdrawn services from Frankfurt to Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance, and from Munich to Saarbrücken. This winter, Lufthansa will cease operating the route from Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia to Frankfurt.
But intercontinental services are also declining. Düsseldorf, Germany's fourth-largest airport with over 25 million passengers in 2019 (19.5 million in 2023), has lost all connections to the United States as well as routes to Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. All that remains are flights to Cairo and Dubai. Hamburg is facing a similar situation. Europe's leading port no longer has any flights to North America!
Lufthansa has just announced that it is also going to overhaul its intercontinental network by 2025. The company blames both higher taxes and ever-increasing competition from American and Gulf carriers...
Jens Bischof, President of the Federal Association of the Air Transport Industry (BDL), attributes this development to significantly higher operating costs in Germany than in Europe. The latest is the increase in air transport tax of approximately 25% on 1er last May. With the increase in air safety taxes and air navigation charges (+100% since 2019), public taxes have almost doubled since 2020. On a medium-haul flight, the BDL estimates that passengers pay an average of €30.
2025 will see a further increase in the security tax of €5. " This is why European point-to-point airlines, in particular, are turning away from German airports. "explains Jens Bischof. The BDL believes that the new increases could result in a loss of 4 million seats.
Ryanair goes to the mat
Surprisingly, it's Ryanair that's doing the honours with the BDL. The Irish airline has just announced that it is to remove 20% from its offering in Berlin for the summer 2025 season. The German capital will see the number of Ryanair aircraft reduced from 9 to 7, representing a reduction of 750,000 seats. Six routes will disappear, including connections to Brussels-Charleroi and Luxembourg.
Ryanair has indicated that it may reduce its capacity by 1.5 million seats across Germany next year. And transfer the capacity freed up in Germany to other countries. It's a classic threat, but one that, surprisingly, has been met with a very positive response. support from airports and airline lobbies. Joachim Lang, General Manager of BDL, told the daily newspaper Die Welt that Ryanair was right to put the " feet in the dish" .
As for Berlin airport, it deplores this decision. And says it will work on solutions to reduce the financial burden on airlines. It is true that with a first-half traffic still a third below 2019 figures (11.8 million passengers in 2024 compared with 17.8 million in 2019), the airport does not have many arguments to use against the Irish low-cost airline.
