Ryanair cuts 30pc of German flights

Irish airline Ryanair has said Germany’s €8 tourist tax is the reason it has cut 30pc of its flights to and from Frankfurt Hahn.

From next summer, the airline will cut its aircraft base from 11 to eight, leading to the loss of my more than 100 flights per week.

The company said that as a result, Frankfurt Hahn will lose one million passengers per year.

Ryanair added that it was closing nine routes from Frankfurt Han to Agadir, Berlin, Gdansk, Gothenburg, Klagenfurt, Prague, Santiago, Seville and Wroclaw. Some of these closures may happen before the summer months.

The airline, which has always been vocal about tourist taxes, said the new €8 tourist charge makes Germany an “uncompetitive destination” at a time when other governments are reducing or scrapping their airport charges.

Speaking in Frankfurt, Ryanair’s Michael Cawley said, “The German government’s €8 tourist tax will do significant damage to traffic and tourism in Germany next year. Experience shows that tourist taxes have caused substantial traffic collapses in both Ireland and the UK this year and we believe that this ill-advised €8 tourist tax will do similar damage to German tourism and jobs.

“Ryanair will move these three aircraft to Ryanair bases outside Germany which welcome tourists instead of taxing them,” continued Cawley.