AIR BERLIN is gearing itself up for what will be the first ever scheduled service by a continental airline on a major British domestic trunk route. VLM does operate successfully from London City to both Liverpool and Manchester but its 50-seat Fokker 50s cannot compare with the 180 seats on offer with Air Berlin”s Boeing 737-800. On Friday 16 October Germany”s second largest airline will introduce a twice daily service from Glasgow to Stansted competing head on with easyJet (5 daily flights) and Globespan (twice daily), plus Ryanair from Prestwick (four times daily). Air Berlin says that its plan is to make a hub at Stansted and will offer through checked in luggage for passengers making a connection to its services to seven German airport, but passengers will still have to get off even if on a through aircraft. At Palma (Majorca) it successfully operates a similar system including various Spanish airports. Although the carrier describes itself as ”low cost”, passengers receive allocated seats and a courtesy cabin service includes snacks, newspapers and magazines and tea/coffee and soft drinks.
http://www.airberlin.com