Loading ...Passenger figures for Air Berlin†Germany’s oldest and largest discount carrier–are giving the airline’s owners, investors and its management reason to smile. Air Berlin announced that passenger traffic—when measured by examining bookings and the over all load factor on all planes—increased by an impressive 19%, compared to last year’s statistics. It is generally rare for passenger numbers to jump so significantly, as even in the case of airlines that perform very well, the average proportion of seats occupied on all flights tends to only rise by between 5% and 10%, as do bookings. Nearly 2.05 million passengers flew on Air Berlin flights last month, compared to 1.7 million during the same period in 2006. As such, Air Berlin is second only to Germany’s flag carrier, Lufthansa, in terms of passenger traffic.
This steep rise in traffic can, at least in part, be explained by Air Berlin’s acquisition of a smaller German carrier called LTU. Although the merger was formalized in March 2007, the actual fusion of the two airlines only occurred in late August.
Air Berlin was established in 1978 and it is, as such, continental Europe’s oldest discount airline. The carrier currently flies to a total of 97 countries, throughout not only Europe, but also in the Middle East and parts of North Africa. Air Berlin also stands out among nearly all European no-frills airlines thanks to its higher than average in-flight service. Unlike the vast majority of budget airlines, Air Berlin offers passengers complimentary sandwiches, snacks and beverages on board all flights.
www.airberlin.com
