Ryanair cuts German winter traffic, cites failure to lower taxes

BERLIN (Reuters) -Ryanair said on Wednesday it will further cut its traffic in Germany this winter, blaming Berlin's failure to reduce location charges, which are among the highest in Europe.

The Irish low-cost airline's move will result in a loss of 800,000 seats and 24 routes across nine airports, including Berlin, Hamburg and Memmingen, leading Ryanair's capacities to fall below those of last winter, its CMO Dana Brady said.

The airports in Dortmund, Dresden and Leipzig will remain closed, Ryanair added in a statement.

Brady said that the cuts were "entirely avoidable" and called on Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder to "take urgent action to reform the ailing German aviation system".

Ryanair has warned the German government that it would switch capacity to other EU countries if Berlin did not meet its demands to reverse an aviation tax increase from May 2024 and reduce air traffic control charges.  

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Writing by Natascha Koch, editing by Alexander Smith)