Airberlin is in a dire financial situation at the moment, and is undergoing a lot of changes. On the most basic level, airberlin is leasing about three dozen of their planes to Lufthansa, in hopes of minimizing losses as much as possible. Lufthansa will use these planes to grow their low cost Eurowings division.
For a long time airberlin’s problem was that they couldn’t seem to decide whether they were targeting business travelers or leisure travelers, and it seems like they’ve finally started to regain their focus a bit. Here’s how they’re presenting their new focus:
- Dedicated, focused network carrier will serve higher-yielding markets from Berlin and Dusseldorf, with a core fleet of 75 aircraft, as a leaner, more efficient business
- Touristic business separated into an independently operating business unit as strategic options are evaluated
- Up to 40 aircraft to be provided to the Lufthansa Group*, reducing excess capacity while protecting employment and minimising restructuring costs
As of now, all of airberlin’s longhaul flights operate west. While that largely just seems to be how their route network has naturally progressed, in the meantime this is also related to Etihad. Etihad owns a 29% stake in airberlin, and wants anyone flying east to route through Abu Dhabi, given that Etihad flies all over Asia, Australia, etc.
Well, it looks like airberlin will soon be trying their own hand at flights to Asia again.
Airberlin is launching flights to Hong Kong as of October 2017
Aviation Week is reporting that airberlin will launch a Berlin to Hong Kong flight as of October 2017. While the flight isn’t yet bookable, it seems like the sources here are pretty credible.
Almost a decade ago, airberlin tried flying nonstop to China, which didn’t work out well. The flights lasted for less than a year, and cost the airline 32 million EUR.
In theory you’d think there would be a market for travel between Germany’s biggest city and Hong Kong. While I suspect they’ll have no issues filling the plane, I have to wonder if they’ll be able to do so profitably.
Berlin is a very low yield market. For example, pulling up fares around the time airberlin is expected to launch, you can fly roundtrip from Berlin to Hong Kong for 482EUR. This isn’t just some crazy fare sale, but rather they seem representative of the market.
Sure, some people will pay a premium for a nonstop flight, but that’s much more common in higher yield markets, and I’m not sure many will go out of their way to pay a premium to fly a nonstop on an airline known for horrible seat pitch.
Bottom line
More than anything, I find this an interesting move for an airline that’s otherwise trying to shrink and minimize losses. There’s absolutely a market between Berlin and Hong Kong, but whether the yields are high enough to make the route profitable is a whole different story.
This move is also interesting as it pertains to airberlin’s relationship with Etihad. They’ve intentionally been routing all traffic through Abu Dhabi, so I wonder which airline had a change of heart here… perhaps it signals the relationship between airberlin and Etihad slowly unraveling.
Interesting times…
@jonathan
CX fly to milano daily
Rome flight is 4x weekly
Looks like a smart move that should have done long ago.
From TXL, passengers fr HK could transit to many parts of europe using AB's network. It is also an option for HK folks to reach East Coast of North America via AB.
This is pretty insane, especially for a carrier in Air Berlin's financial state. Berlin is a fantastic city but it is NOT a financial capital nor will it be anytime soon. It has an emerging creative and media market, an industry which Hong Kong basically lacks. Tegel is too small to be a proper connecting hub and god knows when Brandenburg airport will open.
It is also very well served by the ME3 and by...
This is pretty insane, especially for a carrier in Air Berlin's financial state. Berlin is a fantastic city but it is NOT a financial capital nor will it be anytime soon. It has an emerging creative and media market, an industry which Hong Kong basically lacks. Tegel is too small to be a proper connecting hub and god knows when Brandenburg airport will open.
It is also very well served by the ME3 and by Lufthansa via daily Frankfurt and Munich services and CX/BA via London, as well as Swiss via Zurich just to name a few. Thanks to the ME3 connections there is no point in CX trying to fill seats on this route via connections into Hong Kong. Can see a tourist market here but no idea how they intend to fill the front of the plane.
Has anyone thought of when they gonna fix a new airport, it's like been ages!
And how much has Jonathan drunk this evening...
@Stan: Here's a report about the new lounge on a German website including some pictures: https://reisetopia.de/2017/01/19/neue-lounge-am-flughafen-berlin-tegel/
On the topic: The flight is quite an interesting development. Berlin only has very few direct flights to Asia (just Beijing and Ulaanbaatar; plus Doha and Abu Dhabi in the ME). There's definitely a market, but airberlin definitely needs the CX feeders.
Perhaps an indication that Airberlin will stay in Oneworld? There is no way they can have a good load without CX feeding the route on the HKG end.
The good thing about this is that this could be a cheap way to get to Asia with British Airways points and low taxes, especially since booking the return flight from Hong Kong is guaranteed to be low taxes due to their laws
Needs to be two one ways though
And on a different topic - i just saw last week that Air Berlin opened up a lounge in terminal C, airside. it's still small with limited seating, but with variety of food selection, drinks, spirits etc...
Glad to see this.
Europe is actually an undeserved destination from HKG.
too many airports with single daily services and not competitive at all.
i came up of few legitimate European second tire cities that are decent and either fly to other asian destinations or just seem suitable by size.
Brussels, Kazan,Prague, bermingham ,marseille, belgrade, Bremen, Copenhagen, Dublin, Bremen, Barcelona,Athens,Ankara,Kiev,Berlin,Minsk,Bukaresht,Budapesht,Oslo, 0
then i listed a bunch of major airports underserved off my...
Glad to see this.
Europe is actually an undeserved destination from HKG.
too many airports with single daily services and not competitive at all.
i came up of few legitimate European second tire cities that are decent and either fly to other asian destinations or just seem suitable by size.
Brussels, Kazan,Prague, bermingham ,marseille, belgrade, Bremen, Copenhagen, Dublin, Bremen, Barcelona,Athens,Ankara,Kiev,Berlin,Minsk,Bukaresht,Budapesht,Oslo, 0
then i listed a bunch of major airports underserved off my head
milano 4 weekly (CX)
paris 2.5 daily (2 airlines).
istanbul 6 weeky (TK)
Madrid: 4 weekly (CX)
Finally some sufficient coverage from HK to:
zrh, lhr,vie ,moscow
bottom line: More direct flights HK to Europe is sustainable and necessary.
I flew Bangkok Air for SIN-USM roundtrip over the holidays, but on-board what I'm assuming was a plane leased from Air Berlin. Definitely was an interesting surprise!
Lucky - they used to fly to Phuket just a few years back (and Bangkok too if I am not mistaken). I remember seeing their A330 there once. Believe the flight went via Abu Dhabi.