Lufthansa is planning to launch flights from Birmingham and Manchester to Berlin when the city’s new airport opens next year.
Berlin-Brandenburg Willy Brandt airport, named after the former German chancellor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, will open in June 2012.
Lufthansa will launch its two new UK routes on June 3, 2012, with Airbus A320 family aircraft in a two-class (business and economy) configuration.
From Manchester, flights will leave daily at 08.35, arriving into Berlin at 11.30. From Berlin, flights will leave at 0700 and arrive into Manchester at 07.55.
Birmingham flights, also daily, will leave at 20.00 and arrive into Berlin at 22.50. From Berlin, flights will depart at 18.25, arriving into Birmingham at 19.20.
Karsten Benz, Lufthansa’s VP sales and services Europe, said the expansion “reaffirms the importance of the UK within the Lufthansa network”.
Lufthansa already operates a three-times daily service to Berlin from London Heathrow, although this is currently operated by soon to be sold Bmi.
Benz said the opening of the new airport will create new market opportunities for Lufthansa.
“Lufthansa is planning a massive expansion of flights, the creation of several hundreds of jobs in Berlin and investments of more than 60 million EUR,” he said.
Airlines in the Lufthansa Group, which include Austrian Airlines, Bmi, Brussels Airlines, Germanwings and Swiss, account for a quarter of the 21 million passengers that currently fly through Berlin airports.
With the opening of the new airport, the airline group hopes to expand this share “significantly”, adding 35 aircraft on routes to and from Berlin from next summer.