AIRail Service

AIRail ( a portmanteau of air and rail) is an intermodal transport service, which was developed in cooperation between Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn and Fraport. AIRail connects the main railway stations of Cologne, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf, as well as the Siegburg / Bonn station with airport Frankfurt as a feeder alternative to air travel.

Between Frankfurt Airport and Cologne 15 connections are set up as AIRail trains in both directions every day, there are between Frankfurt airport and Stuttgart seven daily connections. Total 2005 almost 170,000 passengers used the AIRail offer. The timetable change in December 2007, offering an early train from Cologne ( from 5:54 clock ) has been extended to Frankfurt airport. 2011, some 200,000 passengers the offer.

The main feature of AIRail is integrated ticketing. AIRail trains carry a flight number for Lufthansa and are thereby Book in the reservation systems, such as flights. On the trains the traveler is a AIRail conductor available, with it certain seats are recommended for Lufthansa passengers.

History

Prehistory

On May 31 In 1992, the then Federal Railways, Lufthansa and Frankfurt Airport with the DB Lufthansa Airport Service, a precursor AIRail ago. The pilot allowed travelers from the train stations of Cologne, Bonn, Koblenz, Nuremberg, Würzburg and Aschaffenburg to Frankfurt, at the train station to check in their luggage and to solve the boarding pass. In the first seven months took about 7,500 travelers, with around 9,000 pieces of luggage, but the offer. The offer was later discontinued.

In early 1998 it was planned to set up a luggage service from and to Frankfurt Airport within a year. 100 former postal cars were converted for duty- resistant luggage transport. The plan was to offer a luggage transfer between Frankfurt and 15 to 17 other stations in the same year.

As part of a pilot test were ( initially until 31 March 1989) Lufthansa tickets recognized airport in all EC / IC trains between Munich Central Station and Frankfurt from October 1, 1988.

On July 13, signed in 1998 by the then Chief of Track Johannes Ludewig and CEO of Lufthansa, Jürgen Weber, a Memorandum of Understanding on the progressive transfer of air traffic between Frankfurt, Cologne and Dusseldorf on the track after the commissioning of the new line Cologne-Rhine/Main. This should be saved each year 15,000 to 20,000 aircraft movements.

As of mid- June 1998 was part of a pilot project for Lufthansa passengers who traveled from Saarbrücken Main Station by train to Frankfurt, already the possibility to give up their luggage from the station of departure.

In autumn 1999 a more luggage capacity facility was announced: As of November 2000, Lufthansa passengers should check in for six pairs of trains ICE between Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart in Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof their luggage or can pick up. The luggage should it be transported in the same train as the passengers. If the offer would meet with sufficient interest, the Lufthansa flight service between Frankfurt and Stuttgart should be adjusted gradually. In 2002, moreover, a similar project between Frankfurt Airport and Cologne and Dusseldorf was planned.

On 1 September 2000, initiated in 1998 by Lufthansa and DB project Moonlight check-in was discontinued. To be able to submit the offer, from Dusseldorf, Bonn, Cologne, Nuremberg and Würzburg luggage on the eve of the trip for the Frankfurt airport at the station was used by 4,500 travelers in 1999. At one provided from March 2001 joint project between Frankfurt and Stuttgart was further detained.

AIRail

As early as 1998 the German railway and Lufthansa had a letter of intent for a better distribution of traffic between air and rail closed.

The system was introduced on 1 March 2001. In six pairs of trains per day ICE Lufthansa passengers were in the first class each 46 seats available, the luggage was transported separately on the train. Since the IATA has already taken an early stage of their three -letter codes not only at airports but also at important railway stations, ports and bus stations, this train journeys could be integrated from the beginning without any problems in the existing flight booking systems. July 10, the offer should be extended to a seventh pair of trains. The luggage delivery at Stuttgart main station 20 minutes before departure was possible in this case. The passengers were given at Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof their boarding passes; there also the customs inspection of luggage took place. On the trains the luggage was transported to the newly created spaces in luggage trolleys. The journey between Stuttgart and Frankfurt airport was 73 minutes and the minimum transfer time in Frankfurt in 45 minutes. From 1 March 2001 Airrail travelers could 500 Miles & More bonus miles for a Airrail ride first class received ..

Even before 2001, under the name AIRail an offer has been introduced for passengers, in which they could travel by IC and ICE trains to the airport.

2001 was planned in 2003, after commissioning of the high-speed line has been offering to the relation Dusseldorf - expand Frankfurt - Cologne / Bonn. In 2002 Dusseldorf was planned as a destination.

Until November 4, 2007 passengers were able to give up their luggage at the main railway stations in Cologne or Stuttgart to the final destination of the trip. The baggage was in reserved compartments (with ICE -3 trains a lounge for luggage was reserved) transported the trains. For transport between check-in and the platform in Cologne or Stuttgart and the platform at the train station at Frankfurt airport and the baggage handling system lockable roll containers were used. For incoming travelers small baggage claim and customs stations were set up in the two main railway stations.

Since 5 November 2007, the check-in time was shortened, passengers can now check in no later than 15 minutes before departure. This was possible because passengers now their luggage no longer wanted in Cologne, Stuttgart or Siegburg, but to take to the station Frankfurt airport itself, and there to give up on a special check -in desk at the transition to the airport, so the times for customs control, transport were saved onto the platform and loaded into the output stations. On the same day Siegburg / Bonn was integrated into the AIRail system.

On October 26, 2008 at the start of the winter schedule, seat areas for AIRail customers from the carriage 26 (2nd class ) and 27 ( 1st class) were transferred to the carriage 21 of the ICE 3 trains. The ten seats (2nd class) the lounge stand on AIRail sections exclusively for passengers with business and first - class air ticket available. For passengers in economy class a varying quota of seats offered in the greater area of ​​the truck 21.

Effects

After the introduction of AIRail Lufthansa has the number of daily flights between Cologne and Frankfurt reduced from seven to four. The average aircraft size went from about 125 seats to about 75 seats back. Lufthansa introduced from 28 October 2007, the remaining flights between Frankfurt and Cologne, as the flights were not utilized due to the short travel time by train. The AIRail connections from Cologne to Frankfurt with a journey time of 57 minutes are free for future long-haul passengers.

The number of daily Airrail trains was reduced between December 2002 and 2004 from 112 to 99. Mid-2004, was located at an average of 45 percent capacity utilization in 31 daily trains each 37 for Air Rail passengers each reserved seats between Cologne and Frankfurt. Between Mannheim and Stuttgart an average occupancy rate of 60 percent was measured.

In the first ten years of operation, two million passengers took up the offer.

In 2011, some 200,000 travelers ( 290,000 according to other sources ) the Airrail service. This is the highest number of travelers since entering.

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