Germany has more at stake than its airline in the battle for Berlin

It is hardly surprising that the German state airline Lufthansa is making a strong case for denying landing rights to Emirates Airline when the new Berlin airport opens next year. Nobody ever welcomes new competition in business.

However, the politicians that ultimately decide whether to allow the Dubai-owned carrier into the German capital ought to think very carefully before acting and not bow to national protectionism.

Business benefits

Certainly Lufthansa ought to be offered reciprocal rights to operate aircraft from Berlin to Dubai, and under the open skies policy of the UAE that option is already open. But this is more a question of a business calculation for Germany.

Does the world’s second largest exporting nation (it used to be first before China recently grabbed that crown) benefit from barriers to trade? No. Are large UAE government contracts likely to go to a country that denies the emirates landing rights? Maybe or maybe not.

After all the airline business is just a service sector business, and the trade flow between the UAE and German is already heavily skewed in favour of German exports. It is hardly right that the UAE be denied its service exports when it takes so much in the way of Mercedes, BMW and Audi cars and Siemens power equipment.

Service for Berlin

Then again the service Emirates provides to Berlin will actually be useful to its citizens. More of them will be able to take direct flights to the winter sun, away from the snow. Those who come to the emirates will also find new business opportunities here and trade will grow.

Time and again the lessons of free trade are that it works to the benefits of both nations involved. It maybe that there are losing parties. Lufthansa might lose passengers as a result but then it has failed to provide direct flights from Berlin itself, so why should the airline be allowed to stop others from providing this service? It might find that such competition actually stimulates passenger demand.

The direct trade, tourism and inter-governmental benefits of new flights will be considerable. Berlin is the capital city of Germany and one of the largest cities in Europe. Of course there should be direct flights to the UAE.