Low-cost airline joins Berlin-TA fare war
Germanwings takes over Lufthansa's flights from Israel to German capital, offering one-way ticket for €80, not including luggage.
The one-way fare for the low-cost flights starts at €79.99 (about $102), and the planes do not include a business class. The luggage fee is €15 ($19) for a suitcase weighing up to 23 kilograms (50 pounds).
Germanwings will begin flying from Israel to the German capital this coming Sunday, October 26. The company will offer two weekly flights, on Sundays and on Thursdays, serving both passengers traveling for leisure and those traveling for business purposes. The company also offers flights from Tel Aviv to Cologne.
Low-cost flights from Tel Aviv to Berlin are also offered by El Al Israel Airlines, easyJet and Air Berlin, as well as Israir which sells vacation packages including flights and accommodation.
Another Israel-Germany route was launched about a month ago by Germania Airline, which will fly from Tel Aviv to Hamburg and Baden-Baden for a one-way fare starting at €99 ($126).
According to Heinz Joachim Schöttes, Germanwings' senior vice president corporate communications, "With the blooming cultural and economic relations between the two countries in general, and between Berlin and Tel Aviv in particular, we expect the new line between the German capital and Israel's business and finance center to become one of our popular lines."
The company is partner of the Star Alliance's Miles & More frequent flyer program, and passengers will be able to collect miles on every Germanwings flight.
According to the winter timetable, Germanwings flights will leave Berlin for Tel Aviv at 7:55 am Sunday and fly back from Ben-Gurion Airport at 2 pm. The Thursday flight will depart from Berlin at 8:10 am and fly back from Tel Aviv at 2:15 am.
Germanwings entered the Israeli market in May 2010 with two weekly flights on the Tel Aviv-Cologne route. A third flight was added in the past summer.
