traffic | Train departed for Berlin taxis at BER Airport

At the end of 2020, Berlin taxi drivers demonstrated with a motorcade to BER Airport. Photo: dpa/Soeren Stache Since Berlin's Tegel Airport closed at the end of 2020 and the new capital airport BER opened in Schönefeld, Brandenburg, 550 Berlin taxis have been allowed to take passengers at the taxi ranks at BER using a lottery system. Your permission is valid for one year. A total of 6,934 taxis are currently on the road in Berlin.

The Left had written in its election program for the Berlin House of Representatives election on September 20th: "In negotiations with the Dahme-Spreewald district, we will advocate for the right to load all Berlin taxis at BER airport." But before the party can negotiate a coalition with the Greens and the SPD and make good on its promise, the Dahme-Spreewald district has terminated the agreement it concluded with the state of Berlin in 2020.

This means that from January 1, 2027, Berlin taxis will no longer be allowed to queue at the airport taxi rank. Only taxis based in the Brandenburg municipality of Schönefeld will then have the right to do this. The district announced this on Monday.

“The current market conditions make it necessary to adapt the existing regulations,” argued District Administrator Sven Herzberger (independent). "By terminating the agreement, we are creating the conditions to sustainably improve the economic situation of taxi companies in the Dahme-Spreewald district."

So far, passengers at BER can board up to 1,100 different taxis from Berlin and Dahme-Spreewald. But since December 2025, the Deutsche Bahn Airport Express has been running every 15 minutes and only takes 23 minutes to get to Berlin Central Station. It also stops at the Südkreuz and Potsdamer Platz train stations.

Neither a taxi nor any other car can do that so quickly. The car journey takes up to 40 minutes, even without traffic jams or slow-moving traffic. Not to mention the price. The ticket costs 5.20 euros, the taxi ride to the main station costs 57.50 euros. Due to the extremely high gasoline prices, it is hardly possible to do it cheaper anymore.

»Even though we are very happy about the success of the airport express, we very much regret this development.«

The demand for taxi rides from BER to Berlin has become correspondingly low. In addition, the taxi industry is faced with the low-cost competition from Uber drivers, as well as the ability of arriving passengers to grab a quickly and easily available rental car at BER, for example from Bolt or Miles, and drive it themselves.

It is a relief for the taxis from Schönefeld when they no longer have to share passengers with taxi drivers from Berlin. At the moment they all have to wait at BER for more than three hours until someone gets on. They made little use of the opportunity given to taxis from Dahme-Spreewald under the previous agreement to stand at a taxi stand in Berlin and pick someone up there and mostly returned to Schönefeld empty.

"Even though we are very happy about the success of the airport express, we very much regret this development, as the current market conditions are also challenging for the Berlin taxi industry," said Berlin's Transport Senator Ute Bonde (CDU) in response to the termination of the agreement. She explained that it should now be made more widely known that Berlin taxis can be ordered to be picked up at BER via telephone or app. This should be made “attractive through a secured fixed price,” says Bonde.

At the same time, the Senate administration wants to hold further discussions with the Dahme-Spreewald district. It should also address the question of how the availability of taxis can be best guaranteed during peak demand, for example due to disruptions in rail traffic.

It's not because there aren't enough passengers that taxis have to wait so long for passengers. Around 2.5 million passengers took off and landed at BER Airport in the months of July, August and September. There were even slightly more than in the same period last year, as can be seen from the airport company's traffic reports. A large crowd can be expected on November 1st. Because the autumn holidays end in Berlin and Brandenburg on November 2nd.

The taxi dispute has affected BER since it opened. In October 2020, Berlin taxi drivers demonstrated against restrictions on taking passengers with a car parade from Tegel Airport to Schönefeld. In March 2026, the broadcaster RBB reported on Berlin taxi drivers who do not have a license for the loading zone and lure passengers from the terminal to their vehicle parked further away - sometimes by claiming that a higher fare is charged at the taxi rank.

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