Overview
- Eurowings, which announced Wednesday, will base two more aircraft at BER for the winter season and launch Bologna while boosting flights to the Canary Islands.
- The Berlin base will total 11 planes serving nearly 50 destinations, with more than 300 crew members assigned to the operation.
- Ryanair confirmed in late April it will remove seven Berlin-based jets and cut its winter schedule by about half, citing higher taxes, fees, and rising airport charges.
- Labor and policy disputes frame the retreat, as Verdi links the exit to a new works council at Malta Air and lawmakers weigh lower air-traffic taxes that Ryanair says would not go far enough.
- The shift extends a recent trend in Berlin where Easyjet and Ryanair scaled back while the Lufthansa Group expanded, a change that could mean more choice from Eurowings but fewer rock-bottom fares.