OREANDA-NEWS. On 11 January 2008 was announced, that Vnukovo International had welcomed Germanwing’s five-hundred-thousandth passenger since the carrier commenced scheduled operations into the Airport  in June, 2005. And the number of passengers that choose to travel with Germanwings via Vnukovo international keeps growing year in year out. Whereas a total of 34 thousand GW passengers were welcomed at Vnukovo over the remaining six months of 2005, and a further 109 thousand air travelers in 2006, the same indicator is expected to reach approximately 170 thousand in the current year.

During the winter navigation, Germanwings operates up to 15 weekly frequencies to Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, and Stuttgart, with the Cologne/Bonn route clearly in the lead in terms of demand. Over 200 thousand air travelers have been carried by Germanwings on the route since 2005, with average load factors [seat occupancy rate] in excess of 80 percent.

Thanks to a convenient arrangement of flight connections offered by the carrier, the air travelers headed for Germany from Vnukovo Intl. can easily continue their journey onward across Europe with Germanwings. The carrier links its home-base airports of Cologne/Bonn, Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg, and Dortmund with numerous destinations in Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Macedonia, and in Malta.

Germanwings has all the markings of a low-cost carrier, particularly apparent in the efficient use the airline makes of its single-type aircraft fleet, the predominantly web-based ticket sales, and the absence of free in-flight catering, traditionally included in the cost of a full-service ticket.

The air carrier, founded in October 2002, currently operates a fleet of 29 A-319 mid-range twinjets across the route network spanning 70 destinations. The year 2007 saw the German low-cost airline carry a total of 7,9 million air travelers.

Vnukovo International wish to congratulate Messrs. Germanwings on the brilliant operating results and to express our gratitude to the GW staff for the most rewarding and successful cooperation. The German airline’s highly efficient operations without a doubt contribute to Vnukovo International’s dynamic development and endorse its status of a modern European airport.