Air Berlin is already the biggest airline at Berlin Airports / Successful hub structure in Tegel: number of transfer passengers doubled / Other long-haul flights to follow in autumn
Berlin Airports welcomes Air Berlin’s prospective accession to the Oneworld alliance and the announced code-share agreement with Oneworld members American Airlines and Finnair.
Dr. Rainer Schwarz, CEO of Berlin Airports: “Air Berlin’s accession to the Oneworld alliance presents a great opportunity for Berlin. This cooperation is of great significance, especially in view of the opening of BBI in 2012. It paves the way for other attractive flights from Berlin to the rest of the world. With BBI, Berlin is offering airlines unique opportunities for growth in one of the most promising markets in Europe. We are delighted that Air Berlin is making consistent use of this opportunity.”
Air Berlin is already the strongest airline at Berlin Airports. Since 2000, the airline’s market share has risen from 5.4 per cent to more than 30 per cent. So far this year, Air Berlin has carried 3.7 million passengers in Berlin; almost 140,000 passengers more than in the same period the previous year. Passenger figures at Berlin Airports have risen by almost half a million since the beginning of the year, despite the harsh winter, ash cloud and strikes.
The key growth driver behind this positive trend is Air Berlin’s hub structure at Tegel Airport, which the airline began setting up in May, with up to 22 aircraft operating in six waves a day. Air Berlin now offers more than 6,000 weekly connections via its hub. The fact that the number of passengers using Air Berlin’s hub in Tegel as a transfer point has doubled since the airline began setting up the hub structure in May 2010, is of key strategic significance. Starting from its winter flight schedule, Air Berlin will be offering three new long-haul routes to Dubai, Miami and Mombasa and also stationing another Airbus A330-200 in Berlin.
Besides Oneworld and Skyteam, the Star Alliance also has a strong foothold at Berlin Airports with a wide range of Lufthansa offers and, for example, a daily flight with Continental Airlines to New York.
