Germany's second-largest airline began nonstop flights between Dusseldorf, Germany, and McCarran International Airport on Thursday, providing a new low-fare option for travel to Europe and an alternative routing for the estimated 60,000 German tourists who fly to Las Vegas each year.
A water-cannon salute greeted Air Berlin's twin-engine Airbus A330 jet and its 279 passengers as it pulled in on time to McCarran's Terminal 2 — a temporary accommodation until the new Terminal 3 opens late next month.
Air Berlin will fly the route twice a week, Thursdays and Sundays, through Oct. 22.
But a company executive who was on the inaugural flight said the airline's plan is to grow the operation into year-round daily flights.
"We've implemented the model we always use when we start off," said Titus Johnson, vice president of sales and marketing-Americas.
Johnson said the company will tantalize Las Vegans with round-trip air fares starting at $914, which includes taxes and fees. German tourists would view the route as another option to fly directly into Las Vegas. Condor Flugdienst already offers twice-weekly nonstop flights between Frankfurt and McCarran.
Johnson said the airline flies 35 million passengers a year, making it Europe's sixth largest carrier with more passengers than British Airways.
With a flight that arrives in Dusseldorf at 1:30 p.m., Air Berlin offers connections to Munich, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Sylt in Germany; Vienna and Salzburg, Austria; Zurich, Switzerland; Copenhagen, Denmark; Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Milan, Naples and Venice, Italy.
Air Berlin is a member of the oneworld airline alliance and with a code-share partnership with American Airlines, passengers can be connected from Las Vegas to Los Angeles International Airport, where the German carrier will offer the first-ever nonstop route between Los Angeles and Berlin starting Friday.
The aircraft arriving at McCarran on Thursday had the oneworld livery.
Air Berlin is the first of three international carriers coming to Las Vegas for the first time within seven weeks. Dutch carrier ArkeFly will begin seasonal nonstop flights between Amsterdam's Shiphol International Airport and McCarran on June 7, and Panamanian flag-carrier Copa Airlines will begin flights to Las Vegas from Panama City four times a week beginning June 27, which is opening day for Terminal 3.
Las Vegas is the seventh North American gateway for Air Berlin, which also flies to and from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Miami and Fort Myers, Fla., and Vancouver, British Columbia. The airline flies to 162 destinations in 40 countries on a fleet of 170 aircraft of varying sizes with an average age of five years.
Air Berlin was welcomed to Las Vegas by Michael Goldsmith, vice president of international sales for the LVCVA, who also was on the inaugural flight, and Randall Walker, director of the Clark County Aviation Department.
Goldsmith gave Johnson a gift commemorating the event — a light bulb from the original "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign.