Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/413175
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2014 TRAVEL 40 THE airlines in the Lufthansa Group – Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Germanwings, Lufthansa and SWISS – are again offering their customers a dense and high-fre- quency route network in the upcom- ing 2014/2015 winter flight timeta- ble, with 18,900 flights a week. This winter, the Lufthansa Group airlines will be linking 260 destina- tions in 100 countries on four con- tinents via its hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and Brus- sels, but also with many point-to- point connections. Around 20,500 weekly code-share flights with other partner airlines extend the carriers' respective programmes and enable single-source bookings. The winter flight timetables for the individual Group airlines apply from Sunday, 26 October 2014 to Saturday, 28 March 2015. Thanks to the use of larger air- craft, the Group's capacity in avail- able seat-kilometres is increasing by 2.9 per cent compared with the same period last year. At the same time, the number of flights in the period of the timetable is going down by 2.9 per cent. On average, therefore, a Lufthansa Group aircraft is tak- ing off somewhere around the world every 32 seconds. The individual route networks of the Group airlines are increasingly converging with one another. Al- most all destinations are connected via a Lufthansa Group hub. End-to- end fares enable passengers to book multiple journeys with convenient and punctual connecting flights. Forty-nine per cent of the nearly 105 million passengers a year now book a transfer connection via a Lufthan- sa hub. Nineteen European airports are even served by all five airlines in the Lufthansa Group. Lufthansa This winter, Lufthansa is extend- ing its route network to attractive new holiday destinations in warmer regions. After a break of over 15 years, Lufthansa is resuming flights to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands this winter. From 26 October, the new connection took off from Mu- nich to Gran Canaria every Sunday, and every Saturday during school holidays too. Also new in the winter months are flights from Munich to Split (Croatia) and Valencia (Spain). As of 2 October, Lufthansa also flies from Frankfurt to the Moroccan city of Marrakesh. This cultural city is sit- uated at the foot of the Atlas Moun- tains in the Moroccan interior and can be reached in just under four hours with an Airbus A320 every Thursday and Sunday. A further addition to the flight plan from Munich is Miami in Flori- da, the US sunshine state, which will now have a daily non-stop connec- tion. Delhi, the Indian capital, will also get a daily service from Frank- furt with the Airbus A380. The Frankfurt-Luanda connection to the capital of Angola will be strength- ened by a third weekly flight. Starting on 15 December, Lufthan- sa and Deutsche Bahn will extend their joint AiRail product of fast ICE train connections to Frankfurt Air- port from Karlsruhe and Kassel. SWISS In the winter flight timetable 2014/2015, SWISS is adapting its flight plans to winter demand. As well as seasonal reductions of some flights, SWISS is increasing its ca- pacity to popular holiday destina- tions. The long-haul route between Zurich and Miami is to receive four extra SWISS flights a week, taking the total to fourteen weekly connec- tions. Services to São Paolo, the biggest city in Brazil, will also be increased by three flights a week this winter, taking the total to ten weekly con- nections. The flight timetable will also include a daily connection to Los Angeles again. In Geneva, SWISS is continuing many destina- tions from its summer flight timeta- ble throughout the winter, includ- ing Copenhagen, Rome, Lisbon and Pristina. Austrian Airlines In its 2014/2015 winter flight schedule, Austrian Airlines is again offering its passengers a wide range of up to 100 destinations in 56 countries around the world. Fol- lowing the successful introduction of Newark (USA) last July, Austrian Airlines will increase its weekly ca- pacity from five flights to six flights a week as of April 2015, and to one flight a day from June. From June 2015, Austrian will therefore be fly- ing daily to all its North American destinations. Brussels Airlines Belgium's largest airline is adding a new European destination to its winter flight timetable and improv- ing many connections by adding ad- ditional flights: Riga, the capital of Latvia, has been served six times a week from Brussels as of 26 Octo- ber. Riga is one of the most impor- tant cultural and economic centres in the Baltic region and is hosting the EU presidency in the first half of 2015. Brussels Airlines is boosting its capacity with additional flights from Brussels to: Tel Aviv, Madrid, Marrakesh, Budapest, Geneva, Vil- nius, Hanover and Bologna. Con- nections are also being improved to the African destinations of Douala, Yaoundé, Nairobi, Kigali, Bujum- bura and Luanda. Germanwings In its winter flight timetable, Germanwings is offering a total of 84 destinations from Berlin-Tegel, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart. Ad- ditional capacity will still focus on Düsseldorf, where Germanwings is taking over more routes from Lufthansa. There are new high- frequency connections from the Rhineland metropolis to Berlin (57 flights a week), London-Heathrow (33 flights a week) and Zurich (24 flights a week). Also new from Düs- seldorf are flights to Málaga (two flights a week), Naples (three flights a week), Nice (two flights a week), Moscow (seven flights a week) and Rome (five flights a week). The transfer of Lufthansa routes to Germanwings will be completed on 8 January 2015 with Düsseldorf – Zurich. Germanwings is also in- troducing a completely new route, Düsseldorf – Istanbul, with two weekly flights. Its programme in the German capital is also being extended with the takeover of two Lufthansa flights a week between Berlin-Tegel and Tel Aviv. With one flight a week, the German airline is also launching a new connection from Cologne/Bonn to the Cypriot port of Larnaca. Lic T/A U01 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT FLYAWAY TOURS OR YOUR PREFERRED TRAVEL AGENT FLYAWAY TOURS, 31 TRIQ MACIVER, SLIEMA, SLM 3130 | T:2345 0300 | E:INFO@FLYAWAYTOURS.COM.MT WINTER 2014/15 BROCHURE OUT NOW! Lufthansa Group flying to 260 destinations this winter Destinations in 100 countries – passenger capacity up 2.9% across the Group this winter Flyaway Tours launches Winter 2014-15 brochure LAST week saw the release of the Flyaway Tours Winter 2014-15 brochure. Flyaway Tours, experts in the organisation of mini travel breaks, are offering a vast range of travel packages that make for the ideal winter getaway. Relish the winter months in one of the many stunning mountain resort trips available, or escape the cold with a spontaneous trip to the Far East. Their extensive choice of travel options includes value city breaks, guided tours in destinations pan- ning the globe, football packages, agritourism holidays and much more. Flyaway Tours retains close af- filiations with Air Malta and a number of other airlines who of- fer the travel agent great rates, and partner with them to ensure you unbeatable prices for their final packages. Moreover, while their bundles include organisation of your flights, airport transfers and accommodation wherever you choose to travel to, they also retain a unique flexibility that allows you to make whatever you like out of your booking. In essence, you are not restricted by any set plans or programmes, unless you choose to partake in these activities. As a result, you can enjoy the convenience of a single affordable booking for your logistics, but also the freedom of planning a holiday that suits your unique day-to-day wishes and requirements. Contact Flyaway Tours or your preferred travel agent for a free copy of the brochure or for further enquir- ies. For more information log on to http://flyawaytours.com.mt/