The two largest and most successful carriers in Europe are Ryanair and easyJet, which are strongly present in Germany and are responsible for the continuously increasing proportion of cheap flights in German aviation. In 2007 almost every fourth flight was carried out by a cheap-flight-airline, whereas in 2001 only 5% of passengers used these carriers. Ryanair established a hub at the airport of Frankfurt-Hahn in 2002 and since then a veritable boom in cheap flights has been observed.
Amongst the first German low-cost-carriers are HLX, Germanwings and Air Berlin. HLX and Hapagfly, belonging to TUI, were united to TUIfly in 2007.
Nowadays Air Berlin is the second largest and the most popular German low-fare-airline. The German dba was acquired by purchase and by take-over of LTU Air Berlin engaged in the long-distance business. The brand LTU still stands for long-distance flights, whereas short and medium distances are served by Air Berlin. There is a close cooperation with the Austrian low-fare-airline NIKI and a 49% share in Belair enlarges the presence in Switzerland. Home airport of Air Berlin is Berlin-Tegel.
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billigflieger deutschland