Eurowings restarted flights between Newcastle and Dusseldorf on Wednesday, becoming the 10th airline to resume services from the northeast’s largest airport.
The low-cost airline of the Lufthansa Group suspended services between the two cities in April because of the pandemic but is now operating three flights a week.
It plans to increase the service to six flights per week from November.
The western German city of Dusseldorf is popular for city breaks and attracts significant numbers of business travellers from the northeast.
Nick Jones, chief executive of Newcastle airport, said: “The connection between the two cities has been established for many years and continues to be a very important connection for the region’s business and leisure passengers.
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Eurowings is also offering passengers the option to secure an empty middle seat for €18, after trialling the concept in recent weeks.
Jens Bischof, Eurowings chief executive, said: “The positive feedback during the test phase showed us very clearly that our guests often want more comfort and distance on board. We therefore assume that the free middle seat will become a very important product for travel in the future.”
The new option can be booked in all seat rows and on all Eurowings routes within Europe.
It means the empty seat will be blocked at the time of booking and is guaranteed not to be given to another passenger.