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BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
25 July, 2005: German Airline company Lufthansa has commenced operations to Algeria after a 15-year gap, buoyant on a surge in business and trade from both the countries and banking on the emerging tourism potential in Algeria. The carrier has started operating five flights per week between Algiers and Frankfurt from July 15.
"From Frankfurt, Algerian travellers will also have the possibility of taking connecting flights to 800 destinations in 137 countries," Lufthansa vice-president sales department Joachim Steinbach told a news conference.
The price of Algiers-Frankfurt ticket has been fixed for a trial period at AD44,000 (470 euros) and is slated to be re-examined in next October, he said.
"We are delighted to include Algiers into our network again, especially since several of our major customers in the Norwegian market has asked for the service", added Gro Smit - Country Manager of Lufthansa in Norway.
The carrier had operated flights to Algiers from April 1976 till the end of 1990, which was suspended due to economic reasons.
Meanwhile, the airline’s passenger numbers rose slightly in the first half of this year, with 24.7 million people travelling on board its flights, up 0.2 per cent compared with the January-June period of last year.
Its passenger load factor improved by 0.8 percentage points to 74.3 per cent as sales growth outpaced a rise in capacity.
Lufthansa’s cargo division carried 8.47 lakh tonne of freight and mail in the first half, a 0.9 per cent rise from last year.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
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