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The variety of the route network continues to grow: new destinations and more connections
Michael Eggenschwiler, Chief Executive Officer at Hamburg Airport, is delighted by the growing variety in the route network, commenting, “Together with the airlines, Hamburg Airport offers a variety-filled range of flights for this winter season. The attractive destinations in the winter timetable are perfect for beach and skiing holidays and for city or business trips. The wide range of airlines, with various price and comfort models, allows passengers to get to their chosen destination quickly and in comfort.”
New destinations and airlines in Hamburg Airport’s route network
Right on time for the start of the winter timetable, Ryanair is opening a new base with two aircraft stationed in Hamburg. The Irish carrier is doubling its operations in the city. Around 650,000 customers will fly from Hamburg with Ryanair each year
With the opening of the new base, Ryanair is also adding three brand new destinations to Hamburg Airport’s route network. The Irish airline is operating three flights per week to the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia – these flights already began on 6 September. And Ryanair is also now offering non-stop services to northern Italy, with daily flights to Milan Bergamo beginning on 30 October. London Stansted is another new destination for Hamburg’s route network. Ryanair will be flying twice daily to this UK destination as of 1 November.
New services to existing destinations
As part of the opening of the new base, Ryanair is also adding four new winter destinations from Hamburg to extend the choice available for Hamburg Airport’s passengers. From 1 November, there will be two daily flights from Hamburg to the Belgian capital, Brussels. Also starting on 1 November: 3 weekly Ryanair flights to the Spanish holiday island of Gran Canaria. And how could they not offer a flight “home”? As of 31 October, the Irish carrier is offering five flights per week from Hamburg to its home base, Dublin. Ryanair is also expanding its service from Hamburg even further, with a daily service to Manchester in northern England starting on 30 October.
Eurowings is expanding its Hamburg operations with three new destinations. Starting in November, the airline will fly to two Spanish holiday islands – Fuerteventura and Tenerife. The Lufthansa subsidiary will be offering twice weekly and weekly flights respectively between Hamburg and these Atlantic sun destinations. And as of 17 December, Eurowings passengers can also fly to Salzburg, with three flights to Mozart’s hometown every week during the winter months.
Germania is also adding two Canary Island destinations to its network for the winter timetable. Fuerteventura comes first with a weekly flight from Hamburg beginning on 31 October, followed by a weekly service to La Palma starting on 5 November.
Increased frequencies on popular routes
The start of the winter timetable sees added frequencies to many popular destinations. Air Berlin, for example, is increasing from two to five the number of weekly flights to Innsbruck, the state capital of Tyrol. For the first time, Icelandair will also be operating the Hamburg – Reykjavik route in the winter too, with three flights per wek to the Icelandic capital until 8 January. Aegean is also increasing its frequencies from Hamburg, with three flights per week instead of two to its home base of Athens. There will also be more flights available for people travelling to the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Germania is now flying twice weekly to the eastern Mediterranean city in the winter, as it does in the summer, instead of the single weekly winter flight of past years. Salzburg and Vienna in Austria are amongst the most popular destinations for city trips. This winter, easyJet is offering eight flights per week to Mozart’s city of Salzburg; in the 2015/16 winter timetable there were only four flights per week. Austrian is also adding extra frequencies, with four more flights per week to the Austrian capital, Vienna, than last winter, with up to three flights per day. Air Serbia is expanding its capacity on the Belgrade route, and will be operating a larger aircraft (A319) year-round to the Serbian capital.
Looking ahead to the 2017 summer timetable
A number of new services from Hamburg Airport have already been announced for the summer 2017 timetable, which comes into effect on 26 March, 2017. From 26 April, 2017, Condor will connect Hamburg with Malta. The German airline will be flying to the Mediterranean island nation twice a week. Hurghada and Kos will also be returning to the carrier’s timetable, having been absent for a while. Blue Air is expanding its route network from Hamburg, adding twice weekly services to Cluj-Napoca from 3 June, 2017. The Romanian carrier is also increasing its frequencies to Bucharest next summer, with three instead of two flights per week to the national capital. And the airline is also adding another completely new destination from Hamburg: Liverpool. From 26 March, 2017, there will be four flights per week to the hometown of the Beatles in northwestern England. Small Planet Airlines and FTI are also expanding their Hamburg route network, with a weekly full-charter service to Larnaca, Cyprus, from 7 April, 2017. The port city will thus be reachable non-stop from Hamburg again, complementing the Germania service to Paphos. There will be a new direct service to mainland Spain, too, with Germania operating a weekly service to Almería starting on 7 May, 2017. Ryanair’s ex-Hamburg route network will expand in the summer of 2017, too. There will be three flights per week each to Faro in Portugal and Thessaloniki in Greece. Ryanair is also increasing the number of flights to Mallorca to two daily services.
