Cheap Low-Cost Airlines in Germany

Fly on German Budget Carriers Air Berlin, TUIfly, and Germanwings

© Henk Bekker

German Low-Cost Airline Air Berlin, Air Berlin

Air Berlin, TUIfly, and Germanwings are German low-cost airlines with cheap airfares, surprisingly good service, excellent safety records, and many European destinations.

German low-cost Air Berlin, TUIfly, and Germanwings have good reputations for customer service and excellent safety records. None charges separately for checked luggage and all three airlines have frequent-flyer programs of some sort.

Air Berlin (AB) – Europe’s Favorite Low-Cost Airline

Air Berlin frequently achieves the highest satisfaction rating by passengers of low-cost airlines in Europe. It places a high priority on service with free drinks and food, in-flight entertainment, and liberal luggage and cancellation policies. Seats are assigned at check-in or specific seats can be reserved in advance (for a fee).

Air Berlin’s base is Berlin-Tegel (TXL) airport with further major hubs at Düsseldorf (DUS), Köln-Bonn (CGN), München (MUC), Nürnberg (NRN), and Palma de Mallorca (PLM).

Air Berlin flies mostly Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft. Its fleet of 94 planes is on average 7.6 years old.

TUIfly (X3 & HF)

TUIfly belongs to TUI, Europe’s largest tourism company. The airline was formed in 2007 from Hapag-Loyd Express (X3) and Hapag-Loyd Flug (HF) – for legal reasons the different call signals of these two airlines are sometimes still use in addition to TUIfly itself.

TUIfly flies mostly to popular holiday destinations in the Mediterranean region but also has flights to major European capitals. Longer distance flights are planned for the future. In 2007, it flied to over 75 destinations. Customer satisfaction with TUIfly has been high, in some surveys equaling that of Air Berlin.

TUIfly has 53 Boeing 737s that are on average 7.6 years old. Its base airport is Hannover.

Germanwings (4U)

Germanwings is a low-cost airline controlled by Lufthansa. It has been flying since 1997 to German and European destinations.

Of all low-cost airlines in Germany, Germanwings comes closest to the operating model of Irish and British low-cost airlines. Thrills are non-existent, no free drinks, or seat assignments. Not surprisingly, Germanwings tends to rate the lowest of German airlines in customer satisfaction surveys but still much better than European competitors Easyjet and Ryanair.

Germanwings main bases are Köln-Bonn (60 non-stop destinations) and Stuttgart (40 non-stop destinations). Germanwings has 27 Airbus A319 planes that are on average 6.2 years old.

Sources:

Fleet numbers and average age: Airfleets

Safety records: Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Center (JACDEC)

Customer satisfaction: ServiceRating GmbH, Stiftung Warentest


The copyright of the article Cheap Low-Cost Airlines in Germany in Germany Travel is owned by Henk Bekker. Permission to republish Cheap Low-Cost Airlines in Germany must be granted by the author in writing.


Free Food on German Low-Cost Airline Air Berlin, Torsten Seiler www.flickr.com/photos/savv/
German Low-Cost Airline TUIfly, Dimi www.flickr.com/photos/terminateur/
Nothing is Free on Low-Cost Airline Germanwings, www.flickr.com/photos/roonster/
German Low-Cost Airline Germanwings, Scott Wright www.flickr.com/photos/sjwpics/
German Low-Cost Airline Air Berlin, Air Berlin


Post this Article to facebook Add this Article to del.icio.us! Digg this Article furl this Article Add this Article to Reddit Add this Article to Technorati Add this Article to Newsvine Add this Article to Windows Live Add this Article to Yahoo Add this Article to StumbleUpon Add this Article to BlinkLists Add this Article to Spurl Add this Article to Google Add this Article to Ask Add this Article to Squidoo