A regular flight to one of Germany’s largest cities offers opportunities for businesses in the North East, an airline boss says.
German airline Lufthansa started flights from Newcastle International Airport to Frankfurt last month, providing a link to the country a year after it had to postpone the connection to Munich it had launched just before the pandemic.
Frankfurt is one of Germany’s largest commercial centres while its airport is the largest hub in the country, providing onward links to 140 destinations in 46 countries. The German Central Bank and European Central Bank are both located in Frankfurt, cementing the city’s status as Germany’s financial powerhouse.
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Lufthansa said that corporate travel from the North East had been “cautious” during the pandemic, but the return to normality meant the link offered opportunities to companies in a range of sectors, particularly automotive, pharmaceutical, chemical, energy and engineering.
The airline also hopes the link will prove popular with tourists in both countries, and said it would work with the airport to promote the Visit North East England brand in its homeland.
Henri Lange, senior director sales for Northern Europe at Lufthansa Group, said: “From a local perspective, Lufthansa is working in close cooperation with the Department for International Trade to help connect companies from the North East of England to Germany, as business travel starts up again and confidence grows.
“Germany has consistently been one of the North East’s top partners for bilateral trade and investment and the route will further develop that relationship.
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“From a global perspective, the Lufthansa Group is currently operating to more than 80% of its destinations again. We are currently offering 50% capacity but with fewer frequencies, compared to 2019 before the pandemic started.
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“As the roll-out of vaccination programs accelerates and with travel restrictions being progressively eased globally, bookings across the group’s airlines have increased significantly over the last few months.”
The Lufthansa flights operated twice a week during July before increasing to daily from August.
Airport chief operating officer Richard Knight said the “return of Lufthansa to the airport marks another major milestone in our recovery and is fantastic news for us and the region.”