BER Launches Integrated Flight Booking with Kiwi.com

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) has launched a fully integrated flight search and booking engine on its official website and app, a move designed to transform the airport's digital presence into a comprehensive travel marketplace. The new BER flight booking service is powered by a partnership with travel technology firm Kiwi.com, leveraging its virtual interlining capabilities to offer passengers a wider range of flight combinations. This initiative positions BER as a direct competitor to traditional online travel agencies and is a key part of its strategy to create a seamless airport digital ecosystem.

The integration allows travelers to plan and book their entire journey directly through the airport's digital channels. This development is significant for an airport that handled 26.1 million passengers in 2025, an increase of 2.3% from the 25.47 million recorded in 2024. By embedding booking functionality, Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB), the airport operator, aims to capture traveler engagement earlier in the planning process and diversify its revenue streams beyond traditional aeronautical and retail income.

According to Aletta von Massenbach, Chief Executive Officer of FBB, the new service brings "information and booking together in a single place, facilitating intuitive and convenient travel planning." She highlighted the Kiwi.com integration as a critical step in providing travelers with clear, reliable offers directly through the airport's proprietary channels. Kiwi.com's powerful search engine, which processes over 150 million flight search queries daily, enables the platform to offer unique itineraries by combining flights from airlines that do not have codeshare or interline agreements. This is particularly relevant for BER, whose summer 2025 schedule included approximately 70 airlines flying to 150 destinations.

Industry Context and Precedents

This initiative aligns with a broader industry trend of major airports evolving into digital marketplaces. Rather than functioning solely as transportation hubs, airports are leveraging their brand and passenger traffic to create e-commerce platforms that integrate flight bookings with ancillaries like parking, lounge access, and retail. The use of virtual interlining is a key enabler of this strategy, allowing airports to offer comprehensive route networks that include a mix of legacy and low-cost carriers.

This is not the first instance of such a partnership in Europe. In 2023, Bratislava Airport also integrated Kiwi.com's technology to showcase virtual interline connections from its hub. Furthermore, the technology partner's credibility was bolstered in 2024 when Ryanair, a major low-cost carrier, officially approved the Online Travel Agency (OTA) to sell its flights, ending a long-standing dispute. BER itself has previously experimented with integrated travel solutions; in May 2022, the airport was a hub for a Vueling and Deutsche Bahn partnership using Dohop's platform to sell combined air-rail tickets, demonstrating an ongoing strategy to become a nexus for multi-modal travel.

Stakeholder and Regulatory Considerations

The move impacts several stakeholders. For FBB, it creates a new ancillary revenue stream through affiliate commissions and increases user retention on its official digital platforms. For low-cost carriers, it may lead to an indirect increase in bookings as their point-to-point services are algorithmically combined into longer journeys. Conversely, traditional OTAs could see a marginal loss in market share for BER-originating travel.

From a regulatory standpoint, the integration must adhere to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ensuring user data is handled securely between the airport and Kiwi.com. It is also important for consumers to understand the liability structure. According to guidance from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on passenger transport contracts, BER acts as an intermediary. The legal contract for transport, and the associated liability for disruptions, remains with Kiwi.com and the operating airlines.

Some consumer advocates have noted that complex virtual interline bookings can introduce risks, such as missed connections on self-transfer itineraries, which may complicate rebooking during irregular operations. Airlines also often prefer direct bookings to maintain control over the customer relationship and ancillary sales.

Technical Analysis

The integration of Kiwi.com's booking engine represents a strategic pivot for Berlin Brandenburg Airport, moving it from a physical infrastructure provider to a digital travel aggregator. This development is a direct response to the unbundling of air travel, where low-cost carriers have created vast point-to-point networks that traditional booking systems struggle to connect. By leveraging virtual interlining, BER can re-bundle these disparate services under its own brand, capturing value that would otherwise flow to external OTAs. The partnership is less a simple feature addition and more a fundamental shift in how the airport views its role in the passenger journey. It follows the clear precedent set by other airports and technology providers, suggesting this model of an airport-as-a-marketplace is becoming an established strategy for diversifying revenue and enhancing the passenger experience in a competitive digital landscape.

What Comes Next

With the flight booking engine now live, the immediate focus will be on user adoption and performance monitoring. FBB will likely analyze booking data to understand popular routes and passenger preferences, which could inform future route development efforts. The next logical step in the evolution of BER's digital ecosystem would be to more deeply integrate other ancillary services. This could include bundled offers for parking, fast-track security, lounge access, and even pre-ordered retail goods, creating a single, seamless transaction from curb to gate. The success of this initial phase will determine the pace and scope of future digital expansions.

Why This Matters

This development signals a strategic shift for airports, which are increasingly moving from passive landlords to active participants in the digital travel economy. By embedding a powerful booking tool, Berlin Brandenburg Airport is directly competing for control of the customer relationship and valuable ancillary revenue. For the wider industry, this represents a new competitive front between airports, airlines, and OTAs, with the ultimate goal of owning the end-to-end travel planning experience.