Lugano, June 10th, 2013 – Darwin Airline is now well established and continues its expansion thanks to strategic decisions and through successful partnerships. The airline from Ticino has faced the economic crisis in the aviation market with strong growth in both Northern and Southern Europe, thanks to the opening of new routes and opening new bases in cooperation with other airlines and airports which share the same business development strategy.

Good results for the first quarter of this year in terms of passengers transported: 65,727 passengers on 13 routes and an increase of 88,5% in terms of passenger numbers compared to the same period of 2012 (34.861). An additional of 8 routes compared to the first quarter of 2012, which also enabled the company to double its capacity (140,650), reporting a +84% over the first quarter of 2012 (76,548). The network today has 26 destinations in 9 European countries.

The new routes are the result of the signed code-share agreements with key partners such as Alitalia, Czech Airlines and Belle Air Europe, which came into force in September, November and December of 2012 respectively. The partnership with the Czech national airline has resulted in Darwin Airline operating Geneva – Prague, which with its 5,609 passengers during the period from January to March 2013 represents the most successful connection. These good results were also the reason for the launch of the new Florence – Prague route initiated from April 1st.

The collaboration with Alitalia has resulted in new routes for example, Rome – Trapani, inaugurated last March, as well as the opening of new bases in Ancona from June 1st and Bolzano from June 30th.

Another important milestone was reached with the agreement signed with the Marshall Group (a major British Company and owner of Cambridge airport) for a new base in Cambridge. The operational activities will start on September 2nd of this year and will enable Darwin Airline to connect Cambridge airport to Amsterdam, Paris, Milan and Geneva.

The fifty weekly flights from Cambridge to the four European cities are scheduled as follows: 24 weekly flights to and from Amsterdam, 12 weekly flights to and from Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport, eight weekly flights to and from Milan Malpensa Airport as well as six weekly connections to and from Darwin Airline’s main operational hub in Geneva.

All in codeshare with Alitalia.

Also starting from September 2nd, Darwin Airline will connect Leipzig/Halle Airport with Paris and Amsterdam, twice a day from Monday to Friday, and with one flight on Saturdays and Sundays, for a total of 24 weekly connections.

All connections of the network will be operated with the airline’s Saab 2000 aircraft which accommodate up to 50 passengers. The current fleet of nine aircraft will rise to ten by the end of June with an additional aircraft joining in late August in order to face the expanding network.

“We are proud to announce this important news: we set an ambitious target for this year to increase the number of passengers by 85% and it seems to me that all the conditions are set to achieve it,” says Maurizio Merlo, CEO of Darwin Airline who, has also recently been appointed Board Member of ERA-European Regional Association.

Merlo continues: “Thanks to the expansion of our network through our agreements with strategic partners, we are emerging as Europe’s regional airline of reference and continuing to offer our customers a dedicated service with its high Swiss made standards.”