11.08.2006
Low-cost flights result in passenger boom to Berlin

Over the past two years, three low-cost airlines have started operating on the route from Copenhagen to Berlin. The stronger competition and larger number of low-fare tickets have boosted people’s interest in travelling between the two capitals, as traffic figures from Copenhagen Airport show.

In 2003, 165,000 passengers flew between Copenhagen and Berlin, increasing to almost 230,000 passengers last year, and with continuing strong growth this year as 166,000 passengers travelled on the route in the period until July 2006. This was 40,000 more than in the same period last year, equivalent to a growth rate of 31%.

Four airlines operate on the Berlin route. The latest airline to laounch flights on the route was Air Berlin, which began competing with SAS, Sterling and easyJet in May 2006. Sterling began flying on the route last year and increased its flights from one to two on weekdays last October. EasyJet, the first low-cost airline on the Copenhagen-Berlin route, started operations in 2004. SAS has operated on the route since 2002 and has offered low-fare one-way tickets for the past year or so, as the other airlines do.

“The growth in traffic on the Copenhagen-Berlin route is a good example that increased competition and low fares lead to an expansion of the market as more passengers choose to travel when fares are sufficiently low. We have seen similar examples on other routes out of Copenhagen,” said Niels Boserup, President & CEO of Copenhagen Airports A/S.