Ryanair to commence Kerry - Berlin SXF route

ongarboy

http://www.independent.ie/life/travel/travel-news/ryanair-announces-direct-flights-from-kerry-to-berlin-35434784.html

Nice to see provincial airports such as Kerry acquire a route to a significant European capital such as Berlin. Kerry airport also has a German route to Frankfurt Hahn such is the popularity of the region with German visitors.

L1011

Inbound tourism driven I'd guess - Germans love that kind of slightly wild landscape - Newquay which does less traffic supports Dusseldorf and Hahn. Although it has the Rosamund Pilcher fascination too!

driver02

Is the airport out far from Berlin? Hahn is 70KM from Frankfurt I think?

robyntmorton

SXF Schonefeld is one of the main airports for Berlin. Not that far out really. About 18km

aaronm13

Train straight into the city from there. It's a hole of an airport though.

embraer170

No, SXF is close to the city and on the site of what will eventually be Berlin's only airport.

Why start this new route in winter?

Even Hahn-Kerry, with a massive catchment area on the German side (as far as NRW a little North, Switzerland far South, Luxembourg and parts France) and a very long history of flights to the Southwest of Ireland from the Frankfurt region only sustains 2 flights a week in winter. These have low-ish loads and below average fares. I am not sure what Ryanair expects from the Berlin market in winter.

Ryanair tried Kerry - Dusseldorf Weeze in summer a few years ago but that only lasted one season. Liverpool didn't last much longer either.

Still, fingers crossed.

driver02

embraer170 wrote: »

No, SXF is close to the city and on the site of what will eventually be Berlin's only airport.

Why start this new route in winter?

Even Hahn-Kerry, with a massive catchment area on the German side (as far as NRW a little North, Switzerland far South, Luxembourg and parts France) and a very long history of flights to the Southwest of Ireland from the Frankfurt region only sustains 2 flights a week in winter. These have low-ish loads and below average fares. I am not sure what Ryanair expects from the Berlin market in winter.

Ryanair tried Kerry - Dusseldorf Weeze in summer a few years ago but that only lasted one season. Liverpool didn't last much longer either.


Still, fingers crossed.

Thanks everyone

murphaph

Berlin airports have a large enough catchment area as you have to go to Hamburg or Hanover in the west and Prague in the south before you get to an airport with more than a handful of destinations. On Dublin - Berlin flights there are always plenty of Poles for example. You see the shuttle buses outside the airports taking them on to Polish destinations.

I wouldn't assume these flights are primarily aimed at German tourists at all.

gar32

Will there be any deal's here. I am always looking to get home to Ireland. With a wife and 2 kids anything cheaper then €500 for all of us would be great.

pepe the prawn

gar32 wrote: »

Will there be any deal's here. I am always looking to get home to Ireland. With a wife and 2 kids anything cheaper then €500 for all of us would be great.

That shouldn't be any problem, I'm going to Berlin via Shannon with Ryanair in a few weeks time for €128 return. Only booked it about two weeks ago.

billie1b

gar32 wrote: »

Will there be any deal's here. I am always looking to get home to Ireland. With a wife and 2 kids anything cheaper then €500 for all of us would be great.

Granted from Dublin but I flew DUB - SXF - DUB in August last year for 1 adult and 2 kids for €170 odd euro return.

Quaderno

The SNN-SXF route will be discontinued, so they have just moved the flight from SNN to KIR. Should work out trafficwise so...

embraer170

Quaderno wrote: »

The SNN-SXF route will be discontinued, so they have just moved the flight from SNN to KIR. Should work out trafficwise so...

Is the SNN news confirmed or a rumour?

highlydebased

Quaderno wrote:

The SNN-SXF route will be discontinued, so they have just moved the flight from SNN to KIR. Should work out trafficwise so...

How do you know this....

martinsvi

I read somewhere that there are around 15000 Irish living in Germany, couldn't find exact figures now, but seems about right. I think Berlin's IT/Tech scene has a lot of offer to young educated Irish who can't afford to live in the capital but have very little opportunities elsewhere in the country

munchkin_utd

martinsvi wrote: »

I read somewhere that there are around 15000 Irish living in Germany, couldn't find exact figures now, but seems about right. I think Berlin's IT/Tech scene has a lot of offer to young educated Irish who can't afford to live in the capital but have very little opportunities elsewhere in the country

theres about that amount of Irish in Germany all right, but its a big country !

Theres a concentration around the industrial areas near Cologne/ Düsseldorf and Munich as well as Berlin. There's a smattering too in Stuttgart and Hamburg but not all that many.

With 80+ million in Germany it's the locals who'll fill the planes rather than a few hundred emmigrants who will likely come from nowhere near Kerry in the first place.

embraer170

munchkin_utd wrote: »

theres about that amount of Irish in Germany all right, but its a big country !

Theres a concentration around the industrial areas near Cologne/ Düsseldorf and Munich as well as Berlin. There's a smattering too in Stuttgart and Hamburg but not all that many.

With 80+ million in Germany it's the locals who'll fill the planes rather than a few hundred emmigrants who will likely come from nowhere near Kerry in the first place.

The Kerry-Hahn flight has lots of Irish. It varies by season but I would put it at 40% German tourists, 40% Irish living in Germany, 10-15% other tourists (Swiss, French, Belgians) with the remainder Irish holidaying in Germany (very few).

I would say the Berlin route needs to attract some Irish outbound traffic to survive in the long run. SXF can serve as a decent connecting airport (plenty of EasyJet and Ryanair routes) for those willing to risk a self connect.

BZ

embraer170 wrote: »

Is the SNN news confirmed or a rumour?

There is zero rumours around SNN about this route being discontinued and there is nothing confirmed.

martinsvi

munchkin_utd wrote: »

theres about that amount of Irish in Germany all right, but its a big country !

Theres a concentration around the industrial areas near Cologne/ Düsseldorf and Munich as well as Berlin. There's a smattering too in Stuttgart and Hamburg but not all that many.

With 80+ million in Germany it's the locals who'll fill the planes rather than a few hundred emmigrants who will likely come from nowhere near Kerry in the first place.

no need to read into my comment that categorically, I was just trying to add a little balance to the opinion that it's only going to be Germans and Poles using the route

KCAccidental

c'mon ORK-SXF!

embraer170

Still not on sale. Ryanair are in no hurry for whatever reason.

Jamie2k9

Looks like KIR has replaced SNN service....

Masala

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Looks like KIR has replaced SNN service....

Would you reckon its just for Winter 2017/18???? Could it be back for Summer 2018???

BZ

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Looks like KIR has replaced SNN service....

Have you got a source on this or just speculation?

highlydebased

BZ wrote: »

Have you got a source on this or just speculation?

SNN service off sale now

JCX BXC

Masala wrote: »

Would you reckon its just for Winter 2017/18???? Could it be back for Summer 2018???

With the days being changed to Tuesday and Saturdays, it looks like Ryanair wanted to destroy the route and cancel it. Whatever the motive may be, we won't see it back I'd say.

IngazZagni

I think simply put, Ryanair can't turn a profit on many Shannon routes. If Ryanair were cancelling it for other reasons then they would tell the world about it. The flight from Shannon to Berlin on Monday is being sold for €17. That is just completely unsustainable.

JCX BXC

IngazZagni wrote: »

I think simply put, Ryanair can't turn a profit on many Shannon routes. If Ryanair were cancelling it for other reasons then they would tell the world about it. The flight from Shannon to Berlin on Monday is being sold for €17. That is just completely unsustainable.

Few points:

1. Why is Kerry any better at all?

2. Dublin-Charleori is going for €15 on Wednesday, Bremen going for €17, Berlin is going for a still cheap €28.99

3. It's low season.

4. Try going Friday-Monday in a weeks time, it's €130 for 1 adult, hardly cheap.

5. Monday fares going cheap shows more of a somewhat poor inbound weekend market, rather than a poor outbound market.

IngazZagni

JCX BXC wrote: »

Few points:

1. Why is Kerry any better at all?

2. Dublin-Charleori is going for €15 on Wednesday, Bremen going for €17, Berlin is going for a still cheap €28.99

3. It's low season.

4. Try going Friday-Monday in a weeks time, it's €130 for 1 adult, hardly cheap.

5. Monday fares going cheap shows more of a somewhat poor inbound weekend market, rather than a poor outbound market.

Ryanair are in the business of making money. Some flights will but if overall the service is underperforming they will drop it, simple as. I find it bizarre how people have conspiracy theories against Ryanair here. If people in the southwest don't want to use the service then they will cut it.

Will Kerry do better? I wouldn't think so but maybe Ryanair know better. How long has Kerry-Hahn been operating? A long time anyway and it's still going strong.

JCX BXC

Would you care to elaborate on my conspiracy theory?

I'd also like to point out that routes are based on alot more than just how well they preform, if that was the case then I'm sure Ryanair would have a lovely big base in Gatwick and Heathrow

BZ

The route has performed strongly out of SNN and will be missed. Moving it to a Tues and Sat rotation will kill it off in the summer months to come and Ryanair can then say it's not making money and close the route.