German flagship airline Lufthansa carried 12% more people on its route between Aberdeen and Frankfurt last year with US oil capital Houston the top onward destination for travellers from the Granite City.
The company, which has been operating its own flights between the two cities since October 2011, used to fly 70-seater planes on the route, but has gradually introduced bigger craft to tackle demand.
That measure boosted capacity on the route by 5% last year, but passenger figures grew at an even faster rate, breaking the 160,000-mark for the first time.
Lufthansa’s regional director for the UK, Ireland and Iceland, Christian Schindler, yesterday said the carrier will increase the number of flights it operates from Aberdeen to Frankfurt from two to three at the end of this month — all on board 140-seater Airbus 319s.
About 10% of Lufthansa passengers flying to Aberdeen from Frankfurt started their journey in the US, reflecting the strong business links between oil and gas companies in Scotland’s north east and Houston.
The company is looking to pull in more trans-Atlantic fliers by completing improvements to the first and business class sections of its entire long haul fleet of Airbus 380s by the third quarter of 2015.
It will also give passengers with premium economy tickets 50% more room by the end of the year, a feature that Mr Schindler thinks will appeal to energy industry clients.
Lufthansa has also made a point of talking to oil companies to make sure connections in Frankfurt meet clients’ expectations.
Mr Schindler said: “They want fast connections, but not too fast. They want a built-in safety net so that if there is a delay, they can still make the connection. We have built our flight schedules around their requirements.”