British Airways has announced plans to put on additional flights to Berlin after England reached the European Championship final.
The national carrier said it would also try to source larger planes after it emerged there were no more direct return trips to the German capital arriving back in the UK on Monday.
BA reported a 1,000 per cent increase in searches for flights to Berlin after Gareth Southgate’s side scored a last-minute goal to beat the Netherlands in Wednesday night’s semi-final.
Its chief planning and strategy officer, Neil Chernoff, said: “There’s a real sense of hope across the country on the back of England’s semi-final win and the entire nation is behind Gareth and his squad for Sunday.
“Between 10pm and 11pm on Wednesday we saw a 1,000 per cent increase in searches for flights to Berlin on our website, and we’re currently looking at putting on additional flights and changing the aircraft type to bigger jets to accommodate as many fans as possible over the coming days.
“It’s a huge game and everyone at British Airways hopes England can get over the line and bring it home.”
Fans planning to book flights from Britain to witness the Three Lions’ first major final on foreign soil currently face travelling via other airports in order to make it to Germany for Sunday’s game and back again before next Wednesday.
According to Skyscanner, there are flights still available on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday via other destinations, although none of the trips are straightforward.
Travelling on Thursday or Friday will incur extra accommodation costs, while return flights on Saturday are fast approaching £1,000.
Round trip by train nearly £700
There is one for as little as £360 but the outbound plane takes off at 6.50am from Heathrow and lands in Brussels, with the connection not arriving in Berlin until 10.15pm.
Similarly-priced flights on Sunday do not arrive until almost three hours before kick-off, giving little time to get to the match.
Indirect flights via Hamburg at around the £300 mark are another option on the eve of the game.
Berlin is approximately two hours away by train, with the cheapest return fare costing in the region of £50.
There is still hotel availability in the German capital at affordable prices, although that could change in the coming days.
Alternative forms of travel include a return trip on the Eurostar from St Pancras to Berlin with changeovers in Brussels and Cologne, which would involve all-day travel (approximately 11 hours) on the Saturday and Monday.
But prices for such a round trip are now approaching £700.