Germany and the United Arab Emirates have just revealed plans to expand their air transport agreement, and with this, Emirates can finally fly to Berlin, something it has been wanting to do for over two decades. As you’d expect, Lufthansa isn’t at all happy about this, and is accusing the German government of all kinds of stuff…
In this post:
Emirates will finally fly between Dubai and Berlin
On Thursday, September 10, 2026, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a state visit to Germany, where he met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. With this, the UAE pledged to invest €40 billion in Germany, to strengthen ties between the two countries.
There was also an aviation angle to this — as part of this investment, it was announced that airlines from the UAE would be allowed to serve a fifth German city.
You see, air service between Germany and the UAE is restricted based on a bilateral agreement, and up until now, airlines from the UAE have only been allowed to serve four German airports. The UAE has of course wanted to expand this agreement, while Germany hasn’t been willing to do so, at least up until now.
For a long time, Emirates has opted to fly to Dusseldorf (DUS), Frankfurt (FRA), Hamburg (HAM), and Munich (MUC). However, going back to at least 2004, Emirates has been wanting to add flights to Berlin (BER) as well. For a long time, Lufthansa has successfully lobbied for this service to be blocked, but that’s no longer the case.
While it wasn’t explicitly stated in the agreement, the idea is that an airline from the UAE can launch service to a fifth city in Germany as long as current air service to other airports doesn’t expand, and as long as the airline doesn’t plan to launch fifth freedom service from there.
It’s pretty clear what route that is referring to, with Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner already welcoming Emirates to Berlin. While not necessarily the highest yielding, Berlin is by far Germany’s largest city, so this will be fantastic for competition.
The inconsistency in bilateral agreements for Germany has made little sense. For example, Qatar Airways has been allowed to serve five German cities (it already flies to Berlin), while Emirates has been able to serve four German cities. How exactly do you justify that, from a competitive standpoint?
Lufthansa slams German government for allowing this
Lufthansa has of course for a long time been lobbying to prevent Gulf carriers from expanding in Germany, with the usual, predictable arguments (“they’re stealing our jobs!”). For years, Lufthansa’s campaigning has largely centered specifically around Emirates being able to expand to Berlin.
The irony is that Lufthansa doesn’t actually treat Berlin as an important market — instead, it just treats Germany’s largest city as a feeder airport for its two main hubs, though Lufthansa Group does offer Dubai service via its Eurowings low cost carrier subsidiary.
In response to this news, a Lufthansa Group spokesperson released the following statement:
“The expansion of traffic rights agreed today in favor of the United Arab Emirates shifts added value and jobs to the Gulf and further exacerbates the distortion of competition. The already strained situation on domestic routes connecting metropolitan areas to domestic hubs will be further exacerbated by this policy. This federal government is scoring too many own goals.”
Funny enough, I think Lufthansa’s defense here is exactly why Emirates should be granted this permission. Lufthansa’s argument is that domestic feeder flights are at risk because Emirates is expanding to Berlin. It essentially boils down to “how will we be able to fill our domestic feeder flights and get people to overpay for double connections, when Emirates offers a better product, price, and more direct routing?”
Germans absolutely love the sun, and in winter like to travel to places like Bali (DPS), Phuket (HKT), etc. Lufthansa wants to sell those passengers a double connection with high fares, while the Gulf carriers can get people there in one stop.
I’d consider this to be a big win for consumers, as Lufthansa wants to have its cake and eat it too — it wants to control Berlin without actually investing in the market.
Bottom line
Emirates has finally gained the rights to fly to Berlin, something it has wanted to do for over 20 years. However, the bilateral agreement between the two countries capped air service at four destinations. Thanks to expanded cooperation between the two countries, airlines from the UAE will now be allowed to serve five destinations in Germany.
While exact details about Emirates’ new Berlin service remain to be seen, this is some much needed competition for Germany’s largest city.
What do you make of Emirates finally getting permission to fly to Berlin?
Why would any country willingly allow a fifth-freedom route? Do both countries have to approve (i.e., for NYC-Milan, do both the US and Italy have to approve the Emirates route)?
Despite all the arguments in favor of the new agreement, the fact that Gulf carriers are heavily subsidized also remains true, and it gives them a huge competitive advantage over European airlines. After all, the UAE government bought their way into this agreement.
Nonetheless, the way LH handeled this was shortsighted all along, as this has been looming far too long.
This is history repeating itself. When Alitalia abandoned Milan, Emirates stepped into the vacuum with flights to New York, and now they're eyeing South America from MXP to bypass Rome entirely.
But Qatar Airways has three daily slots to BER. Why is Emirates limited to just one daily flight?
Honestly I don't know why Lufthansa is whining because it does not even fly any long haul routes from Berlin. They are more than welcome to start a Berlin to Dubai flight if they want to. Plus they have already had competitions from Qatar (which is always full) and Turkish Airlines.
Now I hope it is an incentive for Berlin Airport to get some better lounges or maybe it is enough incentive for another...
Honestly I don't know why Lufthansa is whining because it does not even fly any long haul routes from Berlin. They are more than welcome to start a Berlin to Dubai flight if they want to. Plus they have already had competitions from Qatar (which is always full) and Turkish Airlines.
Now I hope it is an incentive for Berlin Airport to get some better lounges or maybe it is enough incentive for another lounge operator to build a larger and a nicer lounge with better food.
EK has been eyeing markets that lack transatlantic service, where it knows it can grab a ton of passengers. It probably requested 5th freedom rights as part of the deal.
LH would have been made aware of this, and this was probably part of the pushback, in writing, it must state no 5th freedom.
That can be another battle.
LH has treated Berlin like the slaggy ex-stepsister. That is now over.
Always glad to see more connection to BER. I wish, for oneworld connectivity, that Air Berlin would be resurrected.
"Lufthansa wants to have its cake and eat it too — it wants to control Berlin without actually investing in the market"
VERY TRUE!!!
. . . and it will never change, but instead, this German airline does anything possible to keep competitors far away from Berlin. BUT V E R Y quiet if their STAR partners AC, UA fly to that city! (another proof what a foul game LH-Group is playing at all times)
Of course they don't mind their *A partners because they have a TATL JV which fills their coffers regardless of carrier. EK is a very different story.
Lufthansa Furious, of Course! :-)
One of the most corrupt companies in Germany and for sure THE biggest scam of all German Aviation Companies is now jelling at the German Government, just about 9 years ago, this same company did ANYTHINg in it's power in oder to convince the Government, that the biggest competitor of Lufthansa in Germany, an airline called airberlin and with the biggest hub in the German capitol (with ties to...
Lufthansa Furious, of Course! :-)
One of the most corrupt companies in Germany and for sure THE biggest scam of all German Aviation Companies is now jelling at the German Government, just about 9 years ago, this same company did ANYTHINg in it's power in oder to convince the Government, that the biggest competitor of Lufthansa in Germany, an airline called airberlin and with the biggest hub in the German capitol (with ties to the UAE) had to disappear from the market.
The government did not much to get rid of over 8000 employees, just simply to get most of them for much cheaper money to work and get the newly built Lufthansa-Group airlines. Discover, Eurowings, Eurowings Europe . . . and of course this now so bad Government is NOT playing after the dictatorship of Lufthansa-Group anymore when it comes to investment by the UAE in the German market.
Berlin simply is NOT made for Lufthansa and will never be a Lufthansa market!
The Airline simply never granted the market there and i hope all Berlin people will know that too, now that they have a GOOD choice of air travel again or better, one more option rather then the Lufthansa-Group!
They ruined Berlin's ever biggest airline and sucked it's resources dry like a spider and i hope Emirates EK will teach that corrupt airline a lesson?
This decision with EK was long overdue!
Competition banned for years, just because Lufthansa thought they had any rights. As always, those who laugh last, laugh the loudest.
Good Luck EK!
STR next! ;-)
Christmas came early this year, no overnights in Frankfurt any more to get to my EK-flights. Big win for travelers from Berlin and the surrounding cities.
@Ben There's an interesting angle you may have missed/not covered.
The transport minister explicitly said that EK is not allowed any 5th freedom rights from Berlin. This has left some of us scratching our scalps and our cats.
Was Emirates planning to open a 5th freedom base in BER like it's been rumoured with MXP?
MXP is also a market that LH decided is not worth even offering a few transatlantic flights from. And...
@Ben There's an interesting angle you may have missed/not covered.
The transport minister explicitly said that EK is not allowed any 5th freedom rights from Berlin. This has left some of us scratching our scalps and our cats.
Was Emirates planning to open a 5th freedom base in BER like it's been rumoured with MXP?
MXP is also a market that LH decided is not worth even offering a few transatlantic flights from. And given how Aeromexico has announced flights to MXP, i genuinely believe that EK will indeed get lots of 5th freedom flight rights from Milan.
Again, great for consumers.
As an aside; it's been a very busy week but will get to those flights on the last First class cabin you haven't reviewed this weekend.
That entire condition doesn't make sense to me at all. Fifth freedom flights are never permitted by default (that's why it's called fifth freedom), so you don't need to specifically ban them. You simply don't grant the traffic rights for such routes.
That is great news. I am based in the GCC and am flying to Berlin once a year for work. It has been very difficult since only Qatar was flying before with the exception of Turkish, which closed most GCC routes until now due to the Iran conflict. So any addition is great news as a consumer. Only thing is the business class impact: Qatar has been mostly using the 787-8, which is not good...
That is great news. I am based in the GCC and am flying to Berlin once a year for work. It has been very difficult since only Qatar was flying before with the exception of Turkish, which closed most GCC routes until now due to the Iran conflict. So any addition is great news as a consumer. Only thing is the business class impact: Qatar has been mostly using the 787-8, which is not good for their standards and has a small business class. On top, it is always really expensive when I go. Emirates is a great addition but their business class pricing is typically the highest in the region.
I feel sorry for Lufthansa, since they were banned after WWII from flying domestic routes from (West Berlin) to the rest of Germany. They had to watch Pan Am take it over with its IGS (Internal German Service) as well as British and French carriers. TWA also joined the domestic route party until they all gave up these routes upon German reunification. It would be a shame to see Lufthansa curtail or suspend these domestic...
I feel sorry for Lufthansa, since they were banned after WWII from flying domestic routes from (West Berlin) to the rest of Germany. They had to watch Pan Am take it over with its IGS (Internal German Service) as well as British and French carriers. TWA also joined the domestic route party until they all gave up these routes upon German reunification. It would be a shame to see Lufthansa curtail or suspend these domestic routes a second time due to more aggressive international competition.
"This federal government is scoring too many own goals"
What an amazing statement. I wish American companies weren't afraid to stand up to their administration, even if LH is being ridiculous.
Nothing new...Lufthansa crying like a baby again.
I sat next to Spohr on a flight out of MUC and told him what I thought about Allegris. He just gave me a creepy grin and went back to looking at his phone. He has the whitest and most polished teeth of anyone I've seen. I had to close my eyes to not go blind.
Berlin is long overlooked by LH....another flag carrier ignoring thier capital city with feeding into their other domestic hubs.
*cough* AC with YOW
*cough* SK with ARN
*cough* QF with CBR
If others want to provide more options and competition in all of those markets than amazing....
To be fair to QF, noone else has ever been able to make a success of flying internationally into CBR either.
TRUE . . . and that same Government (also unter CDU/CSU leader) was in all favour for Lufthansa back when Berlin had a phantastic airline at the home market already, air berlin, . . . but that ruling party in the German government has now turned and saw, that it is necessary to NOT rely entirely on 1 foul Homecarrier like LH-Group is.
Lufthansa never had any interest in Berlin and will never have...
TRUE . . . and that same Government (also unter CDU/CSU leader) was in all favour for Lufthansa back when Berlin had a phantastic airline at the home market already, air berlin, . . . but that ruling party in the German government has now turned and saw, that it is necessary to NOT rely entirely on 1 foul Homecarrier like LH-Group is.
Lufthansa never had any interest in Berlin and will never have any interest in that city!
Now they will pay the price but also pay big to keep any other competitor far away from that market!
This time Lufthansa failed, as so often in recent years.
Finally the German capital city will be connected to the world again, after Lufthansa did everything possible to let air berlin die in 2017.
To be fair to AC, the National Capital Region only has a population of ~1.5 million and YUL is <90 min drive away from many parts of the city. Government travel is also still way down post-COVID, so there’s some logic to their shrinking at YOW. Though I’m really happy to see AF and PD expanding service there to fill in the void. It’s such an easy airport to use, and any time you have the option to not give money to AC is a win.
AC has been subsidized for decades by limiting the ME3 access, by all shades of governments.
Time to end that too
Ironically...lately...AC has been expanding partnership with EK....
This was long overdue and i can't make sense of why protectionists are complaining. LH has some rather powerful lobbyists that it has managed to keep EK out of Berlin & Stuttgart till now.
I'd want to guess the turning point came when EW recently launched flights to Dubai from BER, Stuttgart, CGN, and HAJ. There was no way the gov could deny EK traffic rights to BER.
BER has been doing well for QR...
This was long overdue and i can't make sense of why protectionists are complaining. LH has some rather powerful lobbyists that it has managed to keep EK out of Berlin & Stuttgart till now.
I'd want to guess the turning point came when EW recently launched flights to Dubai from BER, Stuttgart, CGN, and HAJ. There was no way the gov could deny EK traffic rights to BER.
BER has been doing well for QR given that they fly there up to 3x daily and they decided to drop Hamburg.
I welcome every competition. I say this as someone based in MUC and we pay eye watering prices to fly Lufthansa.
LH doesn't even fly to Paris from Berlin even given the close relationship between Germany & France.
Wish there was more competition, but at the same time seeing capacity dumping is not fun. It kills the very thing it pretends to do, kill competition.
I am in the school of don't limit destinations, but do limit the capacity per day.
"For example, Qatar Airways has been allowed to serve five German cities (it already flies to Berlin), while Emirates has been able to serve four German cities. How exactly do you justify that, from a competitive standpoint?"
Well it's not Germany's role to make competitor fair across Gulf carriers. These agreements are country-to-country agreement and are (hopefully) justified by other, non-aviation stuff being granted to Germany.
Lol, can't wait for EK to eat FOX for dinner.
Sorry Ben,
As someone who has worked in aviation at both TXL and then BER airports directly by several European airlines (not LH). I also do not agree with this decision.
In Germany we have good paying jobs, a functioning social system and various other benefits/protections not offered by the Gulf States airlines.
I’m not saying these airlines shouldn’t be allowed to fly to Germany. It must however be measured. I appreciate...
Sorry Ben,
As someone who has worked in aviation at both TXL and then BER airports directly by several European airlines (not LH). I also do not agree with this decision.
In Germany we have good paying jobs, a functioning social system and various other benefits/protections not offered by the Gulf States airlines.
I’m not saying these airlines shouldn’t be allowed to fly to Germany. It must however be measured. I appreciate competition to improve services and keep prices in check.
Agee on a limited number of services a week for each carrier, but not the open skies with QR and blanketing of Germany with EK and a lesser extent EY. No one is really flying to DOH or AUH. DXB is another story.
What these airlines are doing, they are absorbing the German market flying eastward.
They have no (or little) local traffic, yet can bypass the rights and protections we have fought so hard for here. Of course LH and DE, as well as other European carriers, are at a structural disadvantage and lose the local originating traffic to carriers that have little regard for their worker’s basic rights. This for a majority of passengers that are in transit.
Allow them access. Of course. Allow them to dump capacity without a local market (not so much EK). No thank you. It makes no sense. Of course I can’t compete with a worker earning less than me with no rights or protections.
Sorry, but limits need to be set to ensure a fair and functioning aviation market in our own country.
The beauty of flying is that it goes both ways. You want your airline to fly to us, you need to allow our airline to fly to you.
I am writing this as a frequent (& forced due to my home location) LH flyer that just in the last year...
1) had his hand luggage taken from him twice in FRA when the boarding ladies thought for whatever reason I wasn't flying C...
The beauty of flying is that it goes both ways. You want your airline to fly to us, you need to allow our airline to fly to you.
I am writing this as a frequent (& forced due to my home location) LH flyer that just in the last year...
1) had his hand luggage taken from him twice in FRA when the boarding ladies thought for whatever reason I wasn't flying C and when proven wrong didn't back up
2) had his checked luggage taking 6 days to arrive to an European destination because LH didn't feel like routing it in anything but LH metal
3) almost got a flight cancelled as "the FRA ground crew cannot work when there is a storm, and we may go beyond curfew"... 5 minutes to catastrophe but we managed to depart. Funnily enough, I had to take the same plane at an outstation the very next morning and guess what,
4) flight got cancelled as the crew clocked out and
5) had to take LH to court three times to make them pay under EU261 (this not in the last year, this has been an almost yearly occurrence since 2022, so far 1 won, 2 pending).
Your rights infringe in mine if your company due to your employees abusing those rights or due to your overall incompetence, doesn't do what I pay it to do.
Welcome competition and get your act together, Volkswagen man.
It's important to mention that the agreement mentions that if a carrier (read EK) starts flying to a 5th destination (BER), it will be capped on frequencies to the other 4 destinations from that point on. So probably EK won't rush into BER as originally anticipated.
Presently EASA prohibits European carriers operating via the Gulf, because of the kakistocracy in the USA led by the demented megalomaniac and Israel. Therefore LH cannot even operate if they wanted to.
What?
You're obviously overdue for a session of ECT. I'll call the nurse...
Bavaria and Hesse are also not amused as they own MUC and FRA
Does BER have Code F gates? While I welcome the competition, I can't describe myself as jazzed about the 2-3-2 EK 77W J if that's what they'll be offering lol. Much rather stick w the QR super diamond seats
Yes LH's approach to Berlin is exactly why competition is valuable. Berlin is Germany's largest city and yet the German flag carrier flies to the same number of destinations from Berlin as they do from Naples.
LH doesn't even fly BER-LHR and yet the German government's supposed to prevent Emirates from flying to Dubai? Please
they do, it's just called Eurowings - no need to be this blind...
Eurowings only started flying to LHR from Berlin this summer. The LH group till then didn't have a direct connection to London.
TRUE, . . . only German airline flying to from Berlin - London was airberlin in 2002, as then called City-Shuttle connection.
LH-Group is NOT really interested in Berlin, never was and never will be, UNLESS . . . they try to demolish any competitor on the same route.
LH-Group, the big vermin!
Who care if they are furious. Lufthansa has neglected Berlin for a long time, which not only affected residents of Berlin, but also the numerous visitors. Unlike Frankfurt, Berlin is a tourist destination.
Frankfurt and Munich are where the high yields are to be found, with business-people travelling on last-minute biz and first-class tickets. Tourist towns and government contracts aren't as lucrative.
Hard to blame them for being furious, major inconvenience, couple more things like that and they may have to get up and remember the meaning of the word "compete."