easyJet has announced it has entered into a long-term partnership with visitBerlin, the official promotional organisation of Germany’s capital city. The intention is to effectively promote tourism to Berlin, both from Germany and also the wider European market. The move comes on top of easyJet’s acquisition of part of the now defunct airBerlin which operated out of Berlin Tegel.
The strategic partnership will see different areas of collaboration, including the creation and spreading of local content to inspire visitors from around the world to visit Berlin and experience its culture, atmosphere and lifestyles. The partnership will generate revenue for visitBerlin through the sale of the Berlin WelcomeCard on board and we will exchange information to continuously develop the network and services.
In 2017 easyJet flew 3.5m international passengers into Berlin, which was more than any other airline, including Lufthansa, while the expansion into Tegel should increase year-on-year visitors to 5.6m.
easyJet will operate 19 daily domestic flights from Tegel, on four routes, to and from Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart, and will introduce 15 new destinations from Tegel, to include Budapest, Madrid. Tel Aviv and Rome, among others.
easyJet is now established as Berlin and Brandenburg’s home-based carrier, with almost 16 million passengers travelling to and from Tegel and Schönefeld airports. Travelers will be able to choose from more than 100 destinations from March onwards and 28 of these destinations are only operated by easyJet.
Commenting on the partnership, Thomas Haagensen, easyJet’s Country Director for Germany, Austria & Switzerland said: “Berlin is such an important destination in the German market and remains popular with our customers throughout the entire network. This first ever strategic partnership with visitBerlin will seek to explore different areas of collaboration in order to show everything Berlin has to offer to the great diversity of easyJet’s passengers.”
According to Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin: “The engagement by easyJet is great facilitator for the economic and the touristic development of Berlin – which is a great occasion to establish the first strategic partnership between the capital‘s official promotional organisation and an airline. With the hashtag #berlinwelcomesyou we will join forces to promote tourism in Europe to Berlin.”