Between jet fuel prices and the security situation in the Middle East, many international airlines have recently scrapped routes that they have previously flown out of a variety of considerations.
British Airways recently canceled its flight between London Heathrow (LHR) and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) while Air Canada confirmed that it will not be restarting its flight from Montréal to Houari Boumediene Airport (ALG) in Algiers due to high jet fuel costs relative to traffic numbers.
The latest airline to announce a market exit is Dublin-based low-cost carrier Ryanair. In a recent press release, the airline said that it will run its last flights to Bremen Hans Koschnick Airport (BRE) due to what its leadership classified as the German government’s “excessive airport charges and high access costs driving capacity cuts.”
“Excessive costs have priced Bremen Airport out of the market”: Ryanair on leaving German city by April 2027
“These excessive costs have priced Bremen Airport out of the market, rendering it uncompetitive compared to other airports across Europe that are actively lowering access costs to attract growth and investment,” the airline writes further.
Serving the northwestern German city, Bremen Airport handled 1.99 million passengers in 2025.
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Ryanair’s beef with the German government and airport authorities date back to 2024 when the Luftverkehrsabgabe air passenger tax charged for every flight departing for the country was raised by approximately 20%.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, who is known for his fiery temper and caustic comments on the aviation industry, repeatedly ribbed these taxes as “some of the highest in Europe” and criticized them for making it impossible to sustain the low-cost model without raising prices for passengers.
Over the last two years, the carrier completely stopped flying to Dresden, Leipzig and Dortmund while cutting its capacity from the northern metropolis of Hamburg by 60%.
In an exit announced earlier in the year, Ryanair is also preparing to close its base at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) by the end of October 2026.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has repeatedly criticized German airport taxes.Ryanair
Why does Ryanair keep fighting with the German government
As part of its latest Germany scaleback, Ryanair will also cut the number of its flights out of Berlin by 50%. Between the Bremen and Berlin route cancelations, the carrier will cut its total German schedule by 700,000 seats or 10% of its total flight capacity.
Ryanair Chief Commercial Officer Jason McGuinness said the raised airport taxes have completely “driven Bremen out of the market” while Bremen state councillor and transportation authority Kai Stührenberg told local broadcaster Radio Bremen that Ryanair leadership kept demanding tax reductions that were not possible under German laws.
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The Ryanair flights out of Bremen that will fall victim to these cuts include routes to London Stansted (STN) as well as Málaga (AGP), Palma de Mallorca (PMI), and Alicante (ALC) in Spain.
“While other European airports are lowering access costs to attract scarce airline capacity, Bremen has rendered itself uncompetitive; consequently, Ryanair’s capacity is now being shifted to lower-cost markets where airports actively foster traffic growth,” McGuinness said in his further statement.
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