The company Vini, the passenger brand of Flyvbird GmbH, plans to test a flight connection to the Berlin region in cooperation with Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport starting in October 2026.
The concept envisions offering scheduled flights to the Schönhagen/Trebbin airfield south of Berlin. From there, onward travel to Berlin city center will be provided via an organized bus shuttle. The project will initially launch with a test phase in October and November, with two flights per week.
The connection between the Central Baden region and the federal capital was discontinued in October 2019 because traditional scheduled airlines could not profitably utilize the wide-body or medium-haul aircraft they used. Vini's business model, on the other hand, is based on the digital recording of customer requests and the flexible deployment of smaller turboprop aircraft such as the Dornier 228 or Dornier 328. The service is marketed in global reservation systems under the Euroairlines airline code Q4, while operational partners handle the actual flights.
For Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport, which recorded approximately 2,3 million passengers in 2025, the project represents an attempt to close the long-standing gap in domestic business travel. According to those involved, the planned expansion of the flight schedule in 2027 and the activation of further routes depend on whether sufficient demand can be generated from the regional economy during the trial phase. The project is supported by, among others, investor Stefan Klocke.
Industry observers, however, point to the structural challenges of on-demand and niche regional air travel. The use of smaller aircraft means relatively high operating costs per seat, which is likely to be reflected in ticket prices. Furthermore, the combination of flying to Schönhagen and then taking a bus shuttle to Berlin-Mitte requires additional transfer times, meaning that the time advantage compared to rail connections, such as the high-speed rail line from Karlsruhe Central Station, must be weighed against this.