Leisure airline to bring 50,000 German visitors

Condor, a leading global leisure airline, plans to bring about 50,000 tourists to Malta from Germany this summer and next winter.

Noticing the potential, Condor decided to return to Malta after a break of four years, Guenter Krug, general manager at Condor Individuell`s business unit, said yesterday. Condor had stopped its regular flights to Malta in 1998 but these were resumed at the end of March this year. Condor is now operating five weekly flights to Malta.

Paul Galea, the Malta Tourism Authority`s director for marketing and promotion, said the contribution by both Lufthansa and Condor was a much needed boost to the MTA`s efforts to make up for the drop in German tourists, especially after the collapse of Frosch Touristik.

"We envisage a small increase from Germany," Mr Galea said.

With something like 200,000 German visitors a year, the market is the second most important for Malta, after the British.

Mr Krug said Malta offered many attractions to the German visitor, such as culture and sightseeing, and his company planned to focus on such strengths to attract more Germans to Malta.

In a bid to attract passengers having special interest, Condor offers an additional three kilogrammes of free cargo for diving and golf gear.

He underscored the advantages accruing from the fact that Condor and Lufthansa worked very closely. In fact, he explained, a passenger could easily combine the services of both airlines in the same itinerary. This, he added by way of example, could prove very beneficial in the case of a person taking a flight from Malta and then travelling on to the US, Cuba, the Dominican Republic or some other exotic destination.

Condor is now owned by Thomas Cook AG which is, in turn, co-owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG and KarstadtQuelle AG.

Carsten Bloemelburg, Lufthansa`s manager for Malta, said Lufthansa had become the first airline in Malta to introduce electronic ticketing, known as Etix.

"Passengers flying with an Etix simply book their flight by phone giving the number of their Lufthansa customer or credit card. The ticket is then stored in the Lufthansa computer system. At the airport Etix passengers check in with their Lufthansa customer or credit card. They are then issued with a boarding pass and baggage tag in the usual way," he explained.

Mr Bloemelburg said travel was back to normal after the September 11 events. Indeed, he said, things were even better than one would have expected.

"The Maltese are travelling more than ever," he said, adding that the only problem was that bookings were being made later than usual.