Airberlin has announced it is adding three wide-body Airbus 330-200 aircraft to its fleet as it builds towards its long-haul summer flight schedule to the United States.
The new aircraft will join airberlin’s existing Airbus 330 fleet of 14, increasing the capacity by nearly 1,000 passenger seats.
Thomas Winkelmann, airberlin CEO, said that the move would help the airline align its route network with the needs of its long-haul passengers and support expanding its U.S. services.
The first of the 290-seater aircraft will come into operation this month. The leased aircraft will include 19 fully-flat seats in business class and 271 seats in the economy section. In addition, each aircraft will be fitted with 46 “XL” seats which give an extra 20 per cent seat pitch to provide more legroom and extra comfort.
The airline will operate 84 non-stop flights a week to Germany this summer from eight destinations in the United States, including a new route from Orlando, Florida, joining New York (JFK), Boston, Miami, Fort Myers, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The two Californian destinations of San Francisco and Los Angeles will provide service to Berlin Tegel with three or four nonstop flights a week starting in May.
Direct flights from Miami to Berlin-Tegel, which this year will be available year-round for the first time, will increase from three to five weekly flights starting in mid-April, while other long-haul destinations offered by airberlin, with non-stop flights from Berlin or Dusseldorf, are Cancun in Mexico, Varadero and Havana in Cuba, Punta Cana and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
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