German carrier sets up new hub at Milan
Lufthansa is to launch its new Italian brand Lufthansa Italia tomorrow (November 27).
The new carrier, which starts flights in February, will be based at Milan and serve major European cities.
It will be in competition with the national carrier Alitalia which currently also has a hub in the north Italian city.
The first routes will be from Milan Malpensa to Barcelona and Paris Charles de Gaulle starting on February 2.
These will be followed in March by services from Malpensa Airport to Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Madrid.
At the start of its summer timetable in 2009 at the end of March, flights to London Heathrow and Lisbon will be added.
Lufthansa Italia is planning four flights day to Heathrow.
The new carrier will initially have a fleet of six Airbus 319s with 138 seats.
Marianne Sammann, Lufthansa's general manager UK and Ireland said economy prices from London would be £49 one way with a return business class flight costing £619 including all taxes and charges.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa's ceo and chairman, said: "Lufthansa Italia will position us in an important market characterised by strong demand, which also holds out opportunities for buoyant growth in the future.
"We will be offering our customers an extensive route network of flights from major European cities to northern Italy, an area which ranks amongst Europe's economically most important and strongest regions."
www.lufthansa.com