Willy Brandt Airport continues to come under pressure. After the British airline Easyjet announced a partial withdrawal, Ryanair called for a general reduction in fees at BER on Monday. “The government and Berlin Airport should act now,” said the Irish low-cost airline. But the airport in the capital region is not allowed to grant any new discounts to airlines after an EU ban.
This is a requirement in the Brussels approval for the 1.7 billion state financial aid for BER, with which Berlin, Brandenburg and the federal government want to restructure the joint airport company by 2026 and avert insolvency. And the last word has not yet been spoken for the release of these funds by the parliaments of Berlin, Brandenburg and the federal government, which is necessary by June 30th – the Greens are in government everywhere.
In the Brandenburg state parliament, the decision will be made next week in the finance committee. The Greens don’t just want to wave Brandenburg’s share of the BER injection through, but rather link it to the condition of a sustainability concept for the airport that has so far been missing.
That was confirmed by the Green Party leader Julia Schmidt. “It’s long overdue to change the airport’s business model towards sustainability,” said Schmidt. “The current developments around Easyjet and Ryanair show once again that there is no future in relying solely on low-cost airlines.”
In the Berlin House of Representatives, the CDU called for private partners to get involved at BER. “The shareholders in Berlin, Brandenburg and the federal government must act as quickly as possible,” said Christian Gräff, spokesman for economic policy. “Time, as the examples of Easyjet and Ryanair show, is running against BER.”
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As the Tagesspiegel made public, the airport company (FBB), managed by BER boss Aletta von Massenbach, expects that the partial withdrawal of Easyjet 2023 announced for winter 2022/23 will lead to 2.3 million passengers and 30 million euros in sales less, according to initial estimates .
Easyjet, previously the market leader at BER, justified the announced reduction of 275 of the 800 pilots and flight attendants in Berlin and the withdrawal of seven of the eighteen aircraft with high airport fees.
