Ski flights taking off in Hamburg

Skiing and winter holidays are becoming more and more popular with Hamburg passengers. Flights to the three most popular skiing destinations, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt, have carried 45 percent more northern German passengers over the past ten years. The airlines are responding to growing demand by offering more flights and increased seating capacity to ski destinations. For the 2017/2018 winter, a total of eleven European destinations with nearby ski resorts are being served with direct flights from Hamburg Airport, bringing passengers to their favourite slopes.

“The development of our traffic figures over the past ten years shows that winter sport breaks are becoming increasingly popular amongst our passengers,” says Dr Joergen Kearsley, Head of Aviation Marketing at Hamburg Airport. “In the current winter season, the airlines have responded to the increasing demand for a comprehensive skiers network from Hamburg Airport. Our passengers have easy access to the most popular skiing regions in Europe.”

10 year trend: Strong growth in popularity of Austrian skiing regions

Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt are the most popular starting points for Hamburg passengers going on skiing holidays, as reflected in the growing traffic figures for routes to these destinations. In the winter of 2016/2017 (December to March), a total of 72,000 passengers flew on more than 600 flights to Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt alone. Compared to the 2006/2007 winter, this represents strong passenger growth of 45 percent. Growth on these three top ski routes from Hamburg was thereby significantly higher than the 35 percent overall passenger growth for the previous ten years.

In the 2017 Hamburg skiing holidays, more than 12,000 passengers flew between Hamburg and the skiing destinations of Salzburg, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt. The total 105 flights had an average load factor of 82 percent, the highest in five years.

Innsbruck is currently recording the strongest percentage growth in seating capacity. In the current 2017/2018 winter (December to March), 224 flights will be operated between Hamburg and Innsbruck. Compared to the 2016/2017 winter (December to March), this represents an increase of 44 flights (+24.4 percent). There are five flights from Hamburg to Innsbruck every week this winter. Niki is flying three times per week, and Eurowings twice per week. As a result of this frequency increase and the deployment of larger aircraft, the number of seats available has risen by 48.5 percent. For the first time, NIKI is operating the Hamburg-Innsbruck route with its larger 212-seat Airbus A321, contributing to the increased seating capacity.

Service: Ski luggage included in ticket price

The choice is broad for snow and skiing enthusiasts. A total of eleven destinations served from Hamburg Airport offer ideal starting points for nearby skiing regions. Various airlines are operating the flights, providing a comprehensive service to Europe’s most important winter holiday destinations. A special benefit for passengers is the inclusion of ski luggage, subject to space, as part of the ticket price for many airlines.

Hamburg passengers now have more flights to Innsbruck, Austria, to choose from.  Eurowings is flying the route twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, while NIKI is flying three times weekly, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The Saturday flight, in particular, is ideal, as it is aligned with the standard tourist bed changeover in Austria. Skiers can comfortably and quickly reach their ski destination without lengthy drives and traffic jams.  Eurowings is serving another Austrian alpine destination with a weekly flight to Klagenfurt. And two airlines are flying to the cultural magnet of Salzburg, too: both Eurowings and easyJet are offering direct flights there from Hamburg. The popular Austrian capital, Vienna, can also serve as a starting point for a skiing holiday, and is served by both Eurowings and Austrian Airlines.

But it’s not just the Austrian Alps that are famed for their ski slopes; the Swiss Alps, too, are justifiably popular. From Hamburg, easyJet flies to Basel and Geneva. Snow enthusiasts have a choice of airlines on the route to Zürich, with Eurowings, easyJet and SWISS all serving the city. And SkyWork Airlines flies to Bern.

The ski slopes of the Bavarian Alps, meanwhile, are easily reached from Munich. Lufthansa flies from Hamburg to the state capital. Eurowings and Ryanair also fly to Milan in the winter, bringing skiiers to the edge of the Italian Alps. And there are popular skiing regions in Europe outside the Alps, too. Norway, for example, is home to beautiful ski slopes that are seldom crowded, and they are easily reached from Hamburg via a Eurowings, SAS or Norwegian flight to Oslo.

Photo acknowledgements: PantherMedia / difughtt