Germanwings
The following article from the Birmingham Evening Mail
Birmingham is set to benefit from a massive boost in tourists from Germany
when the country's biggest low cost airline starts its first Midland flights
next week.
Germanwings will fly every day except Saturday between Birmingham and
Cologne - and intends to make its flights twice daily from the end of the
summer.
It's also good news for Birmingham holidaymakers and businessmen heading for
Germany - with the airline selling seats from £13 one-way, including taxes.
Germanwings already operates into Stansted and Gatwick and both regions have
seen boosts in German visitors with around 300,000 flying into the London
airports last year.
Andreas Engel, the company's director of international public relations,
said a photograph of Birmingham's Selfridges store had appeared in numerous
magazines and newspapers in Germany in recent weeks and there was a great
deal of interest in visiting the city.
"Because of the interest in this service both in Birmingham and Cologne we
anticipate having an 80 per cent load factor. On the back of this we expect
to launch the service twice a day in due course."
He said the new service would use 142 and 150-seater Airbus jets - far
bigger than any aircraft currently flying between Birmingham and Germany.
"Other airlines use 50-seater regional jets which businessmen hate," Mr
Engel added.
"We wanted to launch a new service to Birmingham because it is one of the
top 10 catchment areas in Europe and we anticipate good seat sales."
Most of the airline's seats are sold on the internet and sales for the
Birmingham service are looking good.