Feldkirchen, 29 Sept. 2009: The airline initiative started by Styrian Vice-Governor Hermann Schützenhofer, who is also in charge of the Styrian Tourism department, is being continued by the take-over of the Graz – Cologne connection by Air Berlin.
Vice-Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer: “I am obviously very pleased to have found a powerful partner in Air Berlin, because this could lead to further options of cooperation for Styria. The German market has enjoyed good development, with + 2 % this summer.”
“We will have an appointment with Air Berlin in Berlin at the end of October where we are going to discuss the joint marketing measures”, says Georg Bliem, managing director of Steiermark Tourismus.
Air Berlin will fly between Graz and Cologne four times per week this winter, on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The flights have been up for booking since last weekend on Air Berlin’s website at www.airberlin.com.
Air Berlin’s take-over of the connection to Cologne opens up new options, too: A change of Air Berlin aircraft in Cologne will take passengers from Graz to Hamburg, for example.
“Air Berlin planes have so far been rare guests at Graz Airport. We are happy that the take-over of this connection went so smoothly and that we will be able to offer the Cologne/Bonn destination to our passengers also in future”, says Gerhard Widmann, CEO of Graz Airport.
By taking over the city links, Air Berlin is increasing its presence on the markets of Cologne, Stuttgart and Italy and is expanding its European and inner-German network. All inner-German connections and in particular the connections to Italy and Austria will be affected by the change.