Ryanair is to shut its Berlin operating base and cut its winter schedule to the German capital in half, blaming its decision on soaring aviation taxes in the country.

The Irish budget carrier said its relocation of seven aircraft to other centres would reduce its Berlin passenger numbers from 4.5 million to 2.2 million a year, with flights in and out of the city served from October by planes based at other airports.

Staff at the facility are being offered transfers to other European bases.

Eddie Wilson, chief executive of the airline’s main operating company, Ryanair DAC, said: “German aviation is broken. The government admits that it is uncompetitive, yet there is no strategy to cut aviation taxes or high airport fees – despite Ryanair warning that Germany would lose traffic, connectivity, jobs and trade.

“Since 2019, Ryanair has been forced to close its bases in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Stuttgart … in addition to stopping all flights to Dresden, Leipzig and Dortmund.” It said the closures had led to the loss of 13 aircraft from those bases.

The German trade union Verdi criticised Ryanair’s plans as a “purely profit-oriented corporate strategy”.

Dennis Dacke, head of Verdi’s federal aviation division, said the airline’s employees had for too long been treated like “disposable commodities”, while the company based its location decisions on short-term profit interests.

The announcement of the withdrawal has come at a time when the airline industry is in turmoil as it wrestles with the surging costs following the conflict in the Gulf. The price of jet fuel has more than doubled since the conflict began at the end of February.

Penalties on airlines that cancel UK flights because of jet fuel shortages have been eased, and Ryanair’s boss, Michael O’Leary, has warned of having to cancel as much as 10% of late summer flights if shipping does not return to normal quickly.

While many European airlines have hedged their fuel, locking in a purchase price for months or years ahead, the potential for future disruption was illustrated last week, as American Airlines said the rising price of jet fuel will cost it another $4bn (£3.1bn) this year and eradicated forecast profits.

Environmentalists and rail enthusiasts quickly pointed out the opportunity the Ryanair decision might present for the rail industry to step up.

Jon Worth, a European railway policy analyst, told the Guardian: “The demise of Ryanair at Berlin airport should mean an opportunity for more passengers to take trains to Berlin instead.”

Berlin has direct trains to Amsterdam, Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Berne, Stockholm and Paris. A new daytime service to Copenhagen starts this summer. With one change of train, Brussels, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana and Zagreb are within reach of Germany’s capital.

He said the railway’s reliability needed work and that trains were often more expensive than planes, “but there is an opportunity for the railway industry here, if they are ready to seize it”.

Berlin airport has been approached for comment.