VLM Airlines ventures into Cologne Bonn

Cologne Bonn Airport has confirmed another new carrier will join its roll call later this summer, when Belgian regional operator VLM Airlines commences two new routes to Rostock and Antwerp from the German gateway. Planned to start on 4 June, both services will be operated five times weekly (every day except Wednesdays and Fridays) using the airline’s fleet of 50-seat Fokker 50s on the 192-kilometre international and 487-kilometre domestic sectors.

Facing no competition on either city pair, VLM Airlines will be providing the North Rhine-Westphalia airport’s eighth domestic connection and currently its only service to Belgium. As a result of the carrier’s expansion, Cologne Bonn will be linked to Berlin Tegel, Berlin Schönefeld, Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig/Halle, Sylt and Rostock airports in Germany this summer. Providing an extra 1,000 seats to the airport’s capacity each week throughout S18, the addition of these short-haul destinations further strengthens Cologne Bonn’s summer network.

“Flights leave Antwerp at 11:45 and arrive in Cologne Bonn at 12:35. The Fokker 50 aircraft then departs on the domestic sector to Rostock at 13:05, touching down in Northern Germany at 14:15. The return flight leaves the city on the Baltic Sea at 14:45, landing in Cologne Bonn at 16:05. The last sector of the day leaves the German city at 16:35, arriving back in Belgium at 17:35.