Tourism has been an important mainstay of airberlin ever since airberlin was founded and is an ongoing central theme in the company’s strategy. In 2014 airberlin is expanding its tourist offer, in particular to Mediterranean coastal resorts and to long-haul destinations in the Caribbean, the USA and Abu Dhabi. airberlin has increased frequencies to ten destinations in Greece, for instance, and is the market leader for departures from Germany, Austria and Switzerland as far as the flight offer to Greece is concerned. “We are pleased that our strategy of adding new connections and increasing capacity to Greece is paying off. Greece is on the up again,” says Prock-Schauer. Turkey also remains a strong tourist destination. airberlin flies to Antalya airport from 18 airports in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This summer airberlin is offering a wider range of flights to Turkey from Cologne/Bonn, Munich, Nuremberg, Graz, Salzburg and Vienna as well as Basel and Zurich. With Larnaca in Cyprus, airberlin has added a new destination to its offer, which will be operated by NIKI from Vienna. The connection from Vienna to Malta with NIKI to be introduced from March 2014 is also new.
From March 2014 airberlin is offering new connections from Dusseldorf and Vienna to the Spanish capital Madrid. In addition to the twice-daily flight from Berlin to Madrid, airberlin will also fly daily to Madrid from Dusseldorf (except for Saturdays) from 31st March 2014, as well as four times a week from 10th March and five times a week from April with NIKI from Vienna to the Spanish city. For European holiday-makers, Spain, including the Canary Islands, is still the most popular flight destination. airberlin has also increased its frequencies to the Canary Islands in summer 2014. The airberlin offer from Munich is being strengthened with new connections to Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife South. In summer 2014 airberlin will offer almost 90,000 seats per week to Mallorca from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. That equates to 442 connections a week from 25 airports in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. airberlin is the market leader at Palma de Mallorca airport, and Mallorca will continue to remain one of the most important holiday destinations for airberlin in future. From Mallorca, the airline also offers convenient connecting flights to the Balearic Islands of Ibiza and Menorca, and to numerous destinations on the Spanish mainland such as Bilbao, Seville and Valencia. With up to 250 flights per week in summer 2014 from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Italy is also an established destination in the airberlin portfolio. From Dusseldorf, airberlin is clearly number one to Italian seaside resorts.
For long-haul tourist destinations, airberlin is increasing its frequencies to Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the USA. The USA is a strategic growth market for airberlin. Germany’s second largest airline has increased its connections to New York (JFK) and Chicago and will fly daily to Chicago from May, as well as 20 times a week nonstop from Germany to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. airberlin is also doubling frequencies between Berlin and Abu Dhabi. This will enable airberlin to continue expanding the successful partnership with its equity and codeshare partner Etihad Airways and to continue offering its guests even more connections, including Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and Seychelles or Australia. Overall airberlin will offer twelve long-haul destinations in the Caribbean, the USA, Asia and the United Arab Emirates in summer 2014.
Global partnerships
Together with its strategic partner Etihad Airways and its partners in the oneworld alliance, airberlin guests now have access to over 250 destinations worldwide. Via the Etihad Airways hub in Abu Dhabi, flight guests can now make connections to Asia, Australia, the Arab world and the Seychelles. Connections to India, which can be booked immediately, are new for airberlin guests: via Abu Dhabi, daily connections are available with Etihad Airways to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai and New Delhi. airberlin is also planning to include Seoul in its joint codeshare network with Etihad Airways. Due to the seven additional flights between Berlin and Abu Dhabi from 26th October 2014, it is now possible to travel via Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways to 43 destinations instead of the previous 19.
airberlin’s global route network is completed by its membership of the oneworld airline alliance. In particular, airberlin is expanding the existing North American synergies with its oneworld partner American Airlines and now offers around 60 connections in codeshare, so that almost every region in the USA can be reached by airberlin guests.
The co-operation with oneworld partner airline S7 is also developing positively. airberlin flies from Berlin, Dusseldorf and Vienna to Moscow up to twice a day. The airline also flies to St Petersburg and Kaliningrad. From these three airports, airberlin guests have very good connections with S7’s internal Russian route network. “On some routes to and from Russia, for instance, we take more bookings from foreign markets than from the DACH region,” says airberlin CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer.
More information about new destinations, products and the airline’s strategy in 2014, you can read on: ariberlin
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