RSW airport's nonstop German service will return in May with more cities, seats

This fall, an airline went bust and halted more than two decades of nonstop air service between Fort Myers and Germany.

In late spring, Southwest Florida International Airport again will host German nonstop flights – bigger than ever, and featuring service to three cities.

Some details are still subject to U.S. government approval.

However, airport officials on Thursday confirmed that Lufthansa Group carrier Eurowings plans to operate:

*Twice-weekly flights to Munich, starting May 1;

*Thrice-weekly flights weekly to Dusseldorf, starting May 3; and

*Once-weekly summer and fall  flights to Cologne-Bonn, starting May 4.

That’s six weekly flights – two more than Airberlin operated before bankruptcy forced it to end operations here in mid-October.

Altogether, it’s a more than 50 percent gain in capacity. That’s airline-speak for the average weekly number of aircraft seats into and out of a market.

The Dusseldorf flights weren’t part of the plan when Eurowings initially announced its intent to serve RSW.

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And, athough Eurowings is Lufthansa Group’s budget airline, the Dusseldorf flights will have a true business-class option, complete with seats that convert to lie-flat beds.

“We’ve got an affluent market here. They want that product,” said Carol Obermeier, director of aviation market development for Lee County Port Authority.

This kind of air service at a medium-hub airport is simply more validation that Southwest Florida is highly competitive as a vacation destination for Europeans, said Mike Boyd, a Colorado-based aviation analyst.

Boyd said RSW also is popular because “it has a customs facility that can efficiently handle the volume, and it has great access to the rest of Florida for these visitors.”

Boyd continued: “Be aware that these types of service additions can tend to attract more interest from other operators. Eurowings may just be the start.”

Under Lee County Port Authority's incentive program, airlines willing to test any international market can get landing fees waived, and obtain marketing support and a credit towards airport rates and charges for two years.

Incentive money comes from airport-earned revenues.

Behind the scenes: Checked baggage inspection at RSW

The return of German nonstop flights can’t come too soon for Southwest Florida International Airport.

Starting with the first direct flight on April 7, 1994, scheduled German air service — first with LTU International Airways and later with Air Berlin after it purchased LTU — prospered. Between April 1994 and 2014, more than 1.2 million passengers traveled the Fort Myers-Dusseldorf route.

German-speaking visitors are important to Southwest Florida’s lifeblood tourism and hospitality industry that employs one in five people in Lee and Collier counties alone.

In 2016, Germans comprised the biggest block of international visitors using paid lodgings in Lee County.

In Collier County, European visitor numbers through November were down 4.1 percent compared with the same period in 2016. 

That decline has been in the last few months and is due in large part to the end of the Airberlin service into RSW, said Jack Wert, executive director for the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"The start of the Eurowings' service of six flights per week should begin to increase that visitation for 2018 by the second quarter," Wert said.

Additional service doesn't only promote tourism; it stimulates real estate sales.

Our beaches, boating and nature experiences are addictive. Many citizens of German-speaking countries  have purchased homes here.

For example, Lee County’s property appraiser data shows more than 1,700 single family homes and condo units have tax bills sent to addresses in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, said Michael Schneider-Christians of Century 21 Sunbelt Realty.

 He explained that many international buyers formed Florida-based limited liability corporations to own the properties.

 Others opt to have their tax notices sent to a property manager in the United States.

International visitors’ interest in buying homes locally remains strong, Schneider-Christians said.

New at RSW: Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel visit-planning digital tool

Many Europeans valued the convenience of the RSW flights; however, with nonstops through Miami, Tampa, Orlando or Atlanta, he doesn’t think they’re staying away.

Eurowings is working with area visitor and convention bureaus to promote the new flights to inbound fliers.

It’s partnering with Lee County Port Authority to sell the outbound flights.

You’ve probably seen the newspaper and TV ads introducing Eurowings to the region. Billboards will follow shortly.

 Eurowings’ social media campaign, #nextstopfortmyers, started in early fall.

These posts target adults under age 55, who prize adventure travel, beaches, marine life and outdoor dining.

Working with Lee and Collier County tourism promoters, the airline’s ad agency sent two Floridians – known Instagram “influencers” – on whirlwind familiarization tours of the region.

Instagram influencers are people with high numbers of followers on the chosen social media platform.

Rather than use actors or models, the airline opted “for somebody who already has an audience base. It makes it more authentic,” said Stefanie Zinke, international sales manager for Lee County’s Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel tourism brand.

The Collier County portion of the tour finished just days before Hurricane Irma pounded Florida, resulting in a power outage and damage that closed many hotels for several days or longer.

Lee County tourism promoters did most of their show-and-tell in mid-October.

Taylor Fuller, Delray Beach-based author of the Travel Colorfully blog, posted about her pre-storm fun on Marco Island: “Checked into the @jwmarcoisland and my first stop was one of their many pools. Having a blast.”

A post from Miami-area artist and conservation biology enthurisast Mario Cisneros quipped about his case of “nyctophilia, love of darkness or night,” and paired it with a photo of a starry sky over the Sanibel Lighthouse.

On TripAdvisor, the airline gets mixed reviews, with 330 travelers hailing its service as excellent or good; 133 rating it average and 246 calling it poor or terrible.

Eurowings already has Southwest Florida fans, though.

Naples residents Ronald Gregory Nikolich and wife Lenka have been flying the carrier in Europe since its inception.

They travel frequently, and plan on flying Eurowings when it comes to RSW.

“Their prices are right. They’re on time, and have clean planes and good service,” said Ronald Nikolich, who’s a retired chiropractor.

Nikolich predicts the new flights will be a big hit with the Germans, and a boon to regional tourism here.

“This side of Florida is golf paradise. They can take the (Key West Express) boat to the Keys from here; and Alligator Alley to reach Everglades National Park.”

Germans, he said, “will try it, like it – and they’ll come back again.”