10.12.2008 More low-fare tickets for Danes

The first flight of the Dutch low-cost carrier transavia.com bound for Las Palmas departed on Monday, 8 December. The departure marks the beginning of transavia.com's presence in Denmark with scheduled flights out of Copenhagen.

Fast and cheap to large parts of Europe
transavia.com's first flight for Las Palmas was celebrated at an official launch on 8 December at Copenhagen Airport. One of the first passengers on board the flight to Las Palmas was Nils Erik Nilsen from the Danish town of Holbæk. Mr Nilsen lives on the island of Gran Canaria during the gloomy winter months, while running his business in Denmark.

I fly from Copenhagen to Las Palmas twice a month during the winter season. I am very pleased that transavia.com has introduced a direct service. It is a great advantage to be able to travel back and forth cheap and fast," he says. 

transavia.com is one of the airlines operating some of the routes left open by Sterling. transavia.com's destinations include Malaga, Alicante, Barcelona, Faro and Nice. The airline offers a total of 10 routes out of Copenhagen and 30 weekly flights during the winter season. This number will be increased to 42 weekly flights in April when the summer schedule is introduced. The airline further expects to expand its capacity during next year's peak season in connection with the summer holidays.

A financially strong company
Two transavia.com executives, Willem Hondius and Michiel Meijer, and Brian Petersen, the CEO of Copenhagen Airports A/S, were present when the route was launched:

"It was important to Copenhagen Airports to quickly close the gap after Sterling's bankruptcy, and transavia.com's nine routes out of CPH contribute significantly to this. transavia.com has many years of experience in aviation and knows how to operate a sound business despite the challenges currently facing the industry.
transavia.com combines high-quality service with cheap fares, which is what passengers want," Brian Petersen says.

"All indications show that we will be able to operate a sound low-cost airline in Denmark. We believe that Danish passengers will demand low and transparent prices without any hidden additional costs from a financially stable airline, and that is exactly what we offer. Some people might consider us a somewhat "old-fashioned" low-cost carrier, but this is how we operate" says Willem Hondius, CCO of transavia.com.

transavia.com is owned by Air France and KLM and is considered one of Europe's most financially stable low-cost carriers.

The first flight for Las Palmas was seen off by the airport's Fire and Rescue Department, who marked the launch with a water arch salute. 

http://www.cph.dk/CPH/UK/B2B/Airlines/News/Route+News/2008/transavia+to+LPA.htm