Emirates has finally cleared the path for its long-awaited Berlin flights after overcoming a major regulatory obstacle. Reuters reports that Germany and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to expand the UAE’s traffic rights to a fifth German destination, allowing up to seven weekly flights and opening the door for Emirates to operate the daily Dubai–Berlin service it has sought for more than two decades. Berlin’s government has already said the agreement enables Emirates to offer daily long-haul flights at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), although the airline has not yet announced a launch date.

The breakthrough ends a restriction that has shaped Emirates’ German network for years. The carrier has sought permission to add Berlin and Stuttgart since 2004, but its bilateral rights limited it to four German destinations, which were already occupied by Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. The unusual reason Emirates couldn’t add the German capital has been a recurring feature of its network strategy, while Germany’s broader post-pandemic aviation recovery has also lagged several neighboring markets.

Germany Finally Opens A Fifth Gateway

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It took more than two decades of lobbying for Germany to finally open the door for Emirates to add Berlin. Under the revised traffic-rights arrangement, a UAE carrier can serve a fifth German destination, with the additional operation limited to a maximum of seven weekly flights and no fifth-freedom flying. Berlin is not explicitly named in the bilateral declaration, but Bloomberg reported that Emirates has been cleared to operate Berlin-Dubai, while Berlin’s government said the agreement allows the carrier to offer daily long-haul flights from BER.

The approval comes only three months after Emirates turned up the pressure publicly. In June at the opening of the Berlin Air Show, Emirates president Sir Tim Clark held a media briefing saying that Emirates had secured slots at BER, but still lacked the regulatory approval to launch flights. He also openly criticized Lufthansa’s continued opposition to Gulf-carrier expansion, saying the German carrier should “fight its own corner” rather than rely on the German government to keep competitors out.

Clark said his airline was ready to launch daily Boeing 777-300ER flights to both Berlin and Stuttgart Airport (STR), committing more than €100 million annually in operating expenditure, staffing, airport charges, fuel and other costs. He also highlighted that each daily service would provide more than 280 tons of weekly cargo capacity, making clear that Emirates regarded the absence of both cities from its network as a commercial constraint rather than a lack of demand:

“German businesses have told us they need it, the Berlin Chamber of Commerce has called for it, and our own data confirms that the demand is most certainly there.”

That frustration had been building for 22 years. Emirates has sought Berlin access since 2004, but the 1994 Germany-UAE air services agreement restricted it to four German destinations. Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Munich Airport (MUC), Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS), and Hamburg Airport (HAM) already occupied those slots, meaning Emirates could only add Berlin by abandoning an established German market. The airline repeatedly declined to do so, and Berlin’s absence became one of the more unusual gaps in Emirates’ European network.

The breakthrough came during UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s state visit to Germany, alongside a much broader deepening of economic ties. The UAE announced a €40 billion investment package for Germany, while companies from the two countries signed 29 agreements worth more than €9.35 billion. The aviation element was specifically written into the countries’ joint declaration,and the Berlin mayor, Kai Wegner, emphasized the importance of the economic ties:

“This state visit seals a new chapter in our partnership. With daily Emirates long-haul flights from Berlin to Dubai, two large economic regions are growing even closer together. This will further improve the international connections of the capital’s airport, and is a strong signal for eastern Germany as a business location: Better international connections create new opportunities for investment, businesses, and jobs.”

Why Lufthansa Opposed More Emirates Access

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Throughout its 22 years of lobbying, Emirates has faced strong objections from the Lufthansa Group, which centered less on Dubai as a destination than on Dubai International Airport (DXB) as a connecting hub. The German group has argued that allowing more Emirates flights does not create new nonstop intercontinental links from Germany: instead, passengers originating in Germany are carried to DXB and transferred onward to Asia, Africa and Australasia: ​​

“There is no sense to this. Germany would not gain any direct intercontinental flights through additional frequencies for Emirates.”

Lufthansa says that shifts passenger flows, economic activity and jobs away from European hubs such as Frankfurt and Munich, while Gulf carriers benefit from different regulatory, environmental and labor conditions. And there is some merit to this argument. Emirates’ own figures show that it carried 2.36 million passengers to and from Germany in 2025, with 40% traveling locally between Germany and Dubai and 60% connecting onward. Lufthansa has claimed the figures are understated, and that transfer traffic can account for as much as 80% of Gulf-carrier passengers.

But Emirates has a counter-argument, saying that this connecting traffic does not simply cannibalize Lufthansa. Its leading onward markets from Germany last year included Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, none of which is served by Lufthansa. The airline says its Dubai hub connects Germany with around 50 destinations in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australasia not served nonstop by any German airline.

Lufthansa has also long argued that Emirates was not literally prohibited from Berlin: under the old four-point arrangement it could have given up Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Munich or Frankfurt and moved that designation to BER. Emirates declined to sacrifice an established market simply to enter the capital. Germany’s decision is therefore significant because it changes the bilateral itself rather than forcing Emirates to reshuffle its four existing cities.

Emirates Already Flies 63 Times A Week To Germany

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Germany is already a substantial Emirates market. Current schedules show 21 weekly flights to Frankfurt and 14 each to Munich, Düsseldorf and Hamburg, giving the airline 63 weekly passenger departures — nine every day — before Berlin is added. Frankfurt currently sees the Airbus A350, Airbus A380, and Boeing 777, Munich the A380 and 777, Hamburg the A350 and 777, and Düsseldorf the 777. Emirates has served Germany since its first Frankfurt flight in July 1987.

Aircraft deployment has become increasingly flexible as Emirates diversifies its widebody fleet: the airline has regularly shifted A380 capacity between routes, while the addition of the A350 to Emirates’ fleet has over the past two years has broadened the options available beyond the traditional A380/777 combination.

Berlin-Dubai is currently unserved, but will be a much more competitive Dubai market by the time Emirates arrives. Condor is selling daily BER–DXB flights using its Airbus A320neos from October 25, while Eurowings is due to begin daily A320neo service on November 1. Remarkably, and likely in anticipation of the Emirates agreement, Lufthansa itself will also resume Dubai from both Frankfurt and Munich this winter. That means that at peak operation, Lufthansa Group airlines will offer up to 36 weekly flights to and from Dubai from its various European hubs.

Assuming Emirates uses all seven new frequencies, it will also mean that the BER-DXB route will go from zero to up to three daily flights. Combined, that will see more than 20,000 monthly seats added between Dubai and the German capital. The remaining question is how quickly Emirates can turn its newly won traffic rights into an announced schedule.