Aircarriers opt for bypassing German airport facilities.
Budget airline Ryanair slashes its services at Berlin's airport due to soaring costs. The cause: escalating expenditures. The German Air Traffic Federation's assessment indicates the cost contributors to the ticket price increase.
Travel expenses have significantly surged in recent times. As per the German Statistics Office, the cost of flights to European destinations rose by 31.9% in the first half of 2023 compared to the previous year. Airlines passed on these increased expenses, including exorbitant fuel costs and increased salaries for security personnel, to their customers.
However, this trend reached its peak in 2024 - expenses continued to skyrocket, but customers' willingness to pay didn't keep pace. Consequently, European flight prices only grew by a modest 2.7% during this period, as per statistics. This poses challenges for service providers. Ryanair announced this week that it will withdraw aircraft from Berlin and eliminate six routes from its schedule.
This isn't an exceptional case; the German Air Traffic Federation illustrates, using Stuttgart as an example, how the range of services at German airports is dwindling. Between 2019 and 2024, eleven connections to European cities were discontinued there, but only seven new ones were launched. The frequency on existing routes has also plummeted dramatically, for instance to Lisbon by more than 70%. While in other major European countries, the number of passengers has returned to pre-Covid levels, Germany falls behind - with only 83% of 2019 capacity achieved at German airports during the first half of 2024.
Airlines attribute the main reason for these higher duties and taxes to the government. The tax on flight tickets jumped by more than 20% alone in May. Between 15.53 and 70.83 euros is now charged per passenger. Security check costs are expected to increase from a maximum of ten to up to 15 euros in 2025.
"Unending additional costs"
Since 2020, taxes and duties have nearly doubled on average, the German Air Traffic Federation argues. Moreover, from next year, airlines must initially mix small amounts of sustainable fuel, significantly more expensive than fossil fuel, into their fuel. This primarily impacts price-sensitive budget airlines, as their clients pay close attention to fares. According to the Federation, Ryanair, Easyjet, and WizzAir managed to offer only 71% of their 2019 service package in the first six months of the year.
The Federation has calculated the taxes and duties for an intra-European flight of an Airbus A320 with 150 passengers. This example pertains to Stuttgart Airport: In 2019, the costs were 2,389 euros; now they've escalated by 84% to 4,404 euros. Of this, 2,330 euros went to the air traffic tax, 1,716 to the air security levy, and 358 to air traffic control for takeoff and landing. The price hikes in Stuttgart are particularly steep, but not an isolated case. In Düsseldorf, the Federation reports, costs have nearly doubled. Above all, however, departures and landings in Germany are significantly more heavily taxed than in other countries. For the same one-way flight with the Airbus in Madrid, only 660 euros were charged - just 3% more than before the pandemic.
To remain profitable, airlines come up with various strategies. Carry-on luggage, previously free, can now cost more than the ticket itself. Recently, several budget airlines in Spain were penalized a total of 150 million euros for excessive overcharging.
Airlines like Lufthansa of Germany will introduce an environmental surcharge from next year to cover "relentlessly increasing additional costs". This will be clearly stated to inform travelers that it's not the airline profiting, but rather they're paying to reduce and offset the carbon dioxide emissions caused by their flight. Ultimately, it's like any offer: either the customer pays all costs plus a markup for the company they book with, or the offer shrinks and eventually disappears - as is currently happening with Ryanair in Berlin.
The escalating costs are putting a strain on the economy, as airlines like Ryanair are forced to cut back on services due to increasing expenses. The tax on flight tickets has nearly doubled since 2020, contributing to the soaring costs faced by airlines.
