Germanwings launches flight service to Rijeka

German low-tariff air carrier Germanwings launched a new flight service from Cologne to the northern Croatian Adriatic city of Rijeka on Tuesday, and the first flight brought 93 passengers to Rijeka's airport on the nearby island of Krk.

"With today's flight we opened the route from Cologne to Rijeka, and already in June we will connect Rijeka to Berlin. A flight service between Stuttgart and Rijeka is expected in July," Andreas Engel, Germanwings' international public relations manager, told a press conference at the Krk airport. He added that the company expected to bring about 40,000 passengers to Rijeka by the end of October.

Germanwings was the first low-cost airline to begin flights to Croatian cities in June 2004. By December 2011, it had transported about 3 million passengers from several German cities to Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, and Zadar.

According to figures from the Kvarner tourism board, which covers the Rijeka area, about 400,000 German tourists come to the Rijeka area annually, generating 2.9 million bed/nights, or 27 per cent of all bed/nights generated by foreign tourists. (Hina)