The low-cost airline Ryanair is leaving the corona shock behind. However, there is no sign of this at German airports: Due to high fees, direct flight companies prefer to relocate their capacities to other countries. Compared to the pre-crisis level, the supply is falling drastically.
The European low-cost airlines will also ignore the German market in the upcoming winter flight schedule. Ryanair, Easyjet and other direct flight companies will offer only around 57 percent of their level before the Corona crisis at German airports in the next five months, according to an analysis by the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL). The airlines are increasingly shifting their capacities to other European countries, the association described the development. The range of air traffic in Germany is therefore growing less than in the rest of Europe.
The Irish Ryanair had announced a partial withdrawal from Berlin-Brandenburg Airport a few days ago, citing excessive airport fees as the reason. The Irish have already withdrawn from the largest German airport in Frankfurt since the spring and are instead relying on inexpensive regional airports such as Baden-Baden, Memmingen or Nuremberg.
According to its own figures, Europe's largest low-cost airline has already completely left the corona shock behind. In the current financial year (April 2022 to March 2023), Ryanair wants to carry a good 166 million passengers in Europe, 15 percent more than before the Corona crisis (149 million).
Traffic within Germany is also still lagging behind the pre-crisis level. Compared to winter 2018/2019, the offer currently only reaches 51 percent of the places. The number of routes offered has fallen by 16 to 41, as reported by the BDL. Decentralized routes away from the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich are particularly affected. Lufthansa also justified its lower offer with the high airport fees. A lot of traffic has also shifted to rail.
Including international flights, the offer at German airports has increased to 77 percent of the pre-crisis level. The winter timetable is valid from next Sunday (October 30) until the end of March.
