EasyJet begins Berlin Tegel operations, German domestic flights

UK LCC easyJet launched its first German flights and operations from a new base at Berlin Tegel Airport on Jan. 5.

EasyJet previously announced it would open 19 new routes from Tegel as it picks up routes formerly served by bankrupt airberlin.

EasyJet’s first German domestic flight was from Tegel to Munich. Other domestic routes from Berlin include Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Some routes will be operated up to 8X-daily.

In the aftermath of airberlin’s 2017 insolvency, easyJet agreed to buy airberlin’s Tegel operation, which will complement its existing base at Berlin Schoenefeld. The Tegel base alone will have 25 dedicated aircraft.

As soon as easyJet has built up Tegel operations, the carrier expects to carry 18 million passengers to and from Germany, operating to 116 destinations from nine local airports. The LCC will base 37 aircraft and 1,700 employees in Germany.

The German market has become so significant for easyJet that one in five passengers will start or finish their trip in Germany.

Country director easyJet Thomas Haagensen said that, since the launch of the carrier’s Berlin Schoenefeld base, more than 50 million passengers have been transported on Berlin routes. “We bring more European guests to Berlin than any other airline,” he said.

As soon as the new, much-delayed Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) opens, which is now scheduled for October 2020, easyJet can merge its Tegel and Schoenefeld bases, becoming the carrier’s the biggest single base following London Gatwick.

The LCC will integrate former airberlin aircraft and crews over the next several months; in the meantime, it will use some wet-lease aircraft alongside easyJet planes to operate some flights from Tegel.

More routes from Tegel will become available from March 25, 2018, BER said in a statement.

In 2017, 33,326,000 passengers used Berlin’s Schönefeld and Tegel airports, up 1.3% year-over-year (YOY) compared to 2016. Schönefeld’s passenger numbers were up 10.4% YOY, to 12.9 million passengers. At Tegel, passenger throughput has decreased 3.7% YOY, to 20.5 million, following the bankruptcy of airberlin. 

(Kurt Hofmann - ATWOnline News)