airberlin is investing in routes and its product in 2014. Through its partnership with Etihad Airways and partners in the oneworld® alliance, airberlin now offers its guests excellent worldwide connections to over 250 destinations and is thereby strengthening its global presence. „We have our roots in tourism, which we will continue to further strengthen with new routes and increased frequencies. As a full-service carrier, airberlin offers maximum comfort at attractive prices for both holiday-makers and business travellers. At the start of the second quarter of 2014, airberlin will be the only German airline to offer exclusively FullFlat seats in its new Business Class. In the second half of the year the airline will also equip its first aircraft with on-board WiFi, and will then gradually roll this out to almost the whole fleet,” says Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, Chief Executive Officer airberlin at ITB 2014 in Berlin. The fact that the airline’s „comfort offensive” is effective is shown by the latest results from brand monitor BrandIndex run by the market research institute YouGov: airberlin is the best value-for-money brand and with a +21 point score is clearly in first place out of a total of 15 airlines assessed. This means that airberlin has improved by five percentage points since the middle of 2013.
New tourist routes and increased frequencies
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.
Product & Service
The wishes of airberlin guests continue to be the focus of the airline’s strategy this year. airberlin will equip the first aircraft with on-board WiFi in 2014. This service will then be rolled out gradually over almost the whole airberlin fleet. „We are one of the first airlines to offer WiFi not only on long-haul but also on short and medium-haul flights. This will enable us to meet the needs of our guests for new opportunities in communications and entertainment on board,” says Prock-Schauer. The conversion of the airberlin Business Class will also be completed at the start of the second quarter of this year. airberlin will then be the only German airline to offer exclusively FullFlat seats in Business Class. airberlin has expanded the service concept in Business Class, in order to guarantee its guests the highest level of flexible and individual service at all times. Various service upgrades, such as coffee-to-go when leaving the aircraft, will continuously improve comfort for guests. The mainly single-seat arrangement in the new airberlin Business Class guarantees maximum privacy and access to the aisle from each seat. The conversion of the Economy Class on all long-haul aircraft in the airberlin fleet is already completed. Every seat has an Inseat Entertainment system. The anti-thrombosis cushions ensure comfort with health benefits during the flight. On all airberlin flights, the flight attendants keep toys available for the youngest guests, as well as the child-friendly entertainment programs.
Benefits for frequent flyers
Frequent flyers benefit from the airberlin frequent flyer program: topbonus is ten years old this year, and now has more than 3.4 million members. With more than 120 partners worldwide, topbonus members have the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of benefits. topbonus can also be combined with business points, the airline’s corporate program. Before take-off, airberlin offers its status customers the opportunity to use partner lounges as well as airberlin’s Exclusive Waiting Areas. The first Exclusive Waiting Area outside Germany opened recently in Vienna. The airline offers other Exclusive Waiting Areas in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn and Munich. An opening is also planned at Nuremberg airport for 2014.
airberlin Premium Partners
From this summer, airberlin will be co-operating with rental car partner Hertz and will therefore add to the existing Premium partnerships with Sixt, HRS and ERGO Direct. Travellers to the USA in particular will benefit from the new partnership. Hertz is the largest provider of rental cars at US airports.
Verifiably sustainable business management
In its conduct, the topic of sustainability is always central to airberlin. airberlin has now been certified by TÜV-Rheinland for its sustainable business management. The following areas were examined: the principles of sustainable business management, social responsibility, health and safety at work, quality management, data security, compliance, energy and the environment. With an average age of only five years, airberlin has one of the most modern fleets in Europe. With fuel consumption of only 3.3 litres per 100 passenger kilometres flown, it is one of the most eco-efficient fleets in the industry. airberlin has reduced its fuel consumption by 25% over the past
20 years. airberlin is working continuously on a comprehensive fuel efficiency program. New methods to fly more efficiently and save more fuel are being constantly developed. The airline has also been awarded the TÜV-Rheinland service certificate for the third time in a row.
Source / Author: airberlin
Photo: airberlin