London Heathrow to Berlin
Alex McWhirter looks at how new services can benefit business travellers.
Will it be fifth time lucky for Lufthansa? Germany’s national airline may have a solid and reliable reputation, but in the case of London-Berlin it is rather fickle. In the past, Lufthansa’s UK operation hasn’t been able to make up its mind whether to serve Berlin or not.
This has always surprised the route’s many travellers, as it is only natural for a national carrier to connect two of Europe’s most important capital cities. It’s hard to see how any airline cannot make a living running a service, as flight prices aren’t exactly on the low side.
It is true that high-fare paying business people were thin on the ground in the early days after reunification, but that’s changed since Berlin achieved capital status. To be fair to Lufthansa, history plays a role in all this, since British Airways had 45 years to become established on this route before Lufthansa was allowed to operate in and out of Berlin, post reunification. (The former Soviet authorities who controlled Berlin’s air routes only granted landing rights to allied airlines, ie, BA, Air France and, while it flew, Pan Am.) So Lufthansa’s return to Berlin was delayed until 1990.
Its first UK route was into Gatwick, which was later abandoned and replaced by a new service from Heathrow. That, too, was withdrawn for commercial reasons. Lufthansa returned to London in March 2001 with a service into London City, but that lasted only until October that year. It returned to City again in January last year, where it has flown continually until this spring – from April the flights were switched to London Heathrow.
The winning formula?
According to Marianne Samman, Lufthansa’s general manager for the UK and Ireland, “Berlin is more commercially challenging for us because, unlike Frankfurt and Munich, it is not a hub.” Yet Lufthansa is confident it will succeed this time around. “Our corporate customers have told us that for Berlin, Heathrow is a better option than London City, which is more suitable for passengers in the financial industries heading for Canary Wharf and so on,” she says. “When we flew from City we were using BAe146 jets, but at Heathrow we are using larger A319s.”
Lufthansa has got round the Heathrow slot issues by using those owned by Bmi, the UK airline it is in the process of taking over. And it has got round the issue of aircraft availability by leasing the planes from Bmi. It is probably also a more economical solution because planes will be entirely crewed by Bmi. Only the onboard product – food, drink and so on – will be provided by Lufthansa.
What’s on offer?
Lufthansa is flying three times every day from Heathrow T2 to Berlin Tegel, which is the most convenient airport. Flight LH4839 departs Heathrow at 0940, arriving into Berlin at 1230. LH4841 leaves at 1450 and lands at 1740, while LH4843 sets off at 1950 and reaches Tegel at 2245. On the way back there is LH4838 at 0800 (arriving at 0900), LH4840 at 1315 (1410) and LH4842 at 1815 (1910).
The A319 is typically configured with four business and 124 economy passengers. Return fares in economy class start from £109, but you will typically pay upwards of £290 within a week of departure when choosing busy times. Business class typically costs £795.
But everything still isn’t perfect. Glance at the timings and you will see that the early outbound flight is geared more to Berliners than to Londoners – by the time it turns around it doesn’t reach Berlin until lunchtime, leaving precious little time for Londoners to make a day trip. Samman agrees that “the timings favour day trippers from Germany. But we are looking to enhance the timings as soon as we can to provide day trip possibilities for travellers at both ends of the route.”
The competition
This is fierce. As already noted, Oneworld member British Airways has been entrenched on the route for decades. Unlike Lufthansa, it can feed its main hub in London. In other words, BA has the advantage of being able to bring global travellers into Berlin and take Berliners to the world via Heathrow.
BA departs Heathrow T5 for Tegel up to six times daily at 0715, 0850, 1055, 1255, 1610 and 1835. Return services from Tegel leave at 0715, 1105 (1050 Saturday and Sunday), 1220, 1425, 1640 and 1955. Sector lengths are similar to those of Lufthansa.
BA’s fares can be higher in the back of the plane. Economy class returns start at £155 but booking a week ahead means paying £559 for peak periods. Business class starts at £400 return when booking several weeks ahead, but with a week’s notice you will pay £685.
