Bmibaby in Germanwings tie-up

A no-frills airline alliance has been forged between bmibaby and German carrier Germanwings. The two airlines will offer each other’s services via their respective websites to tap into a combined network of almost 100 routes – 58 by bmibaby and 39 by Germanwings. The UK carrier’s managing director Tony Davis said the co-operation deal would allow the airlines to strengthen their sales presence in the destinations they both serve, Spain, France, the UK and Czech Republic. “On the homepages of both Germanwings and bmibaby selected routes of the other partner airline will be listed and customers will automatically be forwarded to the relevant partner’s website for actual booking,” he explained. “This will give both airlines the opportunity to offer even more destinations through their respective websites.” Mr Davis added that the two airlines would be exploring other “areas of opportunity” to improve sales and performance. Germanwings, which claims tickets sales of 3.8 million since its launch in Cologne/Bonn 15 months ago, will operate a fleet of 12 aircraft this summer and last week announced the start of flights to Germany from Gatwick in addition to Stansted. The airline’s managing director Joachim Klein said: “No other German no-frills airline offers its customers a network as extensive as that available through this co-operation. Together our range of flights covers most of the largest tourist markets in Europe.” Report by Phil Davies