The Italian airline Skyalps will start its first scheduled route outside Bolzano on October 8, 400 with the de Havilland Dash 30-2023 aircraft type. This leads from Linz to Düsseldorf. For the time being, three weekly circulations are planned.
“With Düsseldorf and Linz, we directly connect two important economic centers in Germany and Austria. With SkyAlps, passengers will in future be able to travel to and from North Rhine-Westphalia and Upper Austria in just under 1,5 hours and enjoy first-class on-board service with high-quality South Tyrolean products,” explains Josef Gostner, President of SkyAlps. “We use highly efficient propeller machines for this, which emit around 50% less CO2 emissions and cause 50% less noise than conventional regional jets during take-off and landing. We look forward to the launch and resurgence of the connection.”
The Skyalps flights between Linz and Düsseldorf are to take place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday traffic days. The de Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprop aircraft will leave Düsseldorf at 9:15 a.m. and arrive in the Upper Austrian capital at 10:50 a.m. The flight will return to Germany at 11:30 a.m. with an arrival at 13:10 p.m.
The nonstop connection between Linz and Düsseldorf was operated for many years by Tyrolean Airways (later Austrian Airlines). When the airline discontinued its regional routes, this service was transferred to its sister company, Eurowings. The resumption of service was repeatedly postponed, and the route was temporarily suspended several times before finally being discontinued. Linz Airport announced at the time that it would seek a new operator. They have now found one in Skyalps.
Norbert Draskovits, Managing Director of Linz Airport, is pleased to welcome SkyAlps, a new flight partner for scheduled flights at Linz Airport. “With the DASH-8 Q-400, SkyAlps operates an optimal aircraft for our market. The winter is only the first step of the restart, better flight times and more flights on weekdays should follow in April.”