Newquay Cornwall Airport says that Lufthansa is to start services to Dusseldorf from next summer.
The German airline will become the third flag-carrier after British Airways (BA) and Swiss launched services from the West Country airport to London Gatwick and Zurich respectively.
A Lufthansa spokeswoman was unable to confirm if the airline had plans to extend the service between its current schedule of a Saturday-only service to Cornwall, but the news is indicative of the growing popularity of Newquay as a business and leisure destination.
”Germany is Cornwall”s strongest overseas tourist market and Lufthansa is the third mainline carrier at the airport,” said Newquay Airport project director, Chris Cain, adding: ”This is further evidence that Cornwall is not just attractive to the low-cost carriers.”
Newquay was present at this week”s Routes event in Stockholm, where it lobbied for new business routes to Amsterdam and Paris, as well as further destinations in Germany and Spain.
The airport estimates that it will handle 400,000 passengers this year with airlines such as Flybe, bmibaby, Ryanair and Air Southwest offering a wide range of services, in addition to the other carriers.
Six airlines operate to 12 destinations from the Cornish airport, although commercial manager Karen Medweth has ambitions to expand the domestic schedule. ”There is also strong demand for domestic flights from Newquay to the West Midlands, Newcastle and Glasgow,” she said.