flyBAIR (Bern) will not operate its own flights during Summer 2022, citing as reason the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lack of predictability, as well as its intention to conserve funds generated through crowdfunding.
Still, the Swiss virtual carrier will act as a flight broker and continue its existing cooperation with German virtual carrier Lübeck Air (Hamburg Luebeck) to provide and expand on flight offers from Bern, the company said in a statement. flyBAIR has also commissioned Swiss tour operator Belpmoos Reisen to manage its booking platform. As reported earlier, Lübeck Air charters from Berne are operated by Denmark's Air Alsie (6I, Sønderborg) on behalf of Belpmoos Reisen.
Through these deals, flyBAIR this Summer will market flights from Berne to:
- Heringsdorf (Germany) - once weekly on Saturdays, running from May 28 to October 22, 2022;
- Hamburg Luebeck (Germany) – 2x weekly – Thursday and Sundays from May 12 to October 20, 2002, replacing an ATR72-500 with an E190 on Sundays;
- Olbia (Sardinia, Italy) - once-weekly on Fridays, running from May 13 to October 14, 2022; and
- Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) - once weekly on Sundays, running from September 18 to October 23, 2022.
flyBAIR board delegate Urs Ryf commented that demand for flights from Berne was high for the Summer, particularly to niche destinations.
Apart from Lübeck Air, other flight providers from Berne this Summer include Helvetic Airways (2L, Zurich) and Swiss Flight Services (SFS, Neuchâtel).
Founded in 2019 through crowdfunding, flyBAIR launched on July 18, 2020, with flights to Palma de Mallorca using an ERJ 190-100LR chartered from Helvetic Airways but suspended the service in August 2020 due to COVID-19 quarantine requirements while continuing charters to Greece until mid-October 2020. It subsequently cancelled special “pop-up” flights planned for December 2021 and January 2022 due to renewed uncertainties around COVID-19 variants.
