Berlin looks like it will turn into a new battleground for both Lufthansa and Airberlin. The planned opening of Berlin new airport BBI (Berlin Brandenburg International) on 4 June 2012 puts the heat on both German carriers Airberlin and Lufthansa to gain market shares at Germany’s third largest airport. Speaking at ITB, Joachim Hunold, Airberlin CEO, indicated that the airline is the largest carrier with some 40% of all capacity. Airberlin is due to join Oneworld by 2012 and has started to build up and rearrange its flight frequencies to turn Berlin into a proper hub for OneWorld.
“We are building up our code share agreement with Oneworld partners such as American Airlines, Finnair and Russian S7. We should soon also have a similar partnership with British Airways and Iberia,” explained Hunold. New flights this summer include new flights or additional frequencies to Basle, Linz, New York JFK and Verona and additional frequencies to Rome and Saint Petersburg. At the new airport, Airberlin will be located at Pier North which has been conceived to fit the airline’s needs.
Lufthansa could not sit idle looking at OneWorld taking possession of the Berlin market. The national carrier recently appointed Josef Bogdanski as manager of the project ‘Zukunft Berlin’ (Future Berlin). He will be in charge of a new strategy for the group. Berlin would be one of the few airports in Europe to be a hub for two competing alliances.
