German start-up regional operation Air Uniqon is aiming to connect several domestic cities to the aviation town of Friedrichshafen using a virtual airline model.

Operator AvantiAir is providing a 78-seat De Havilland Dash 8-400 for the new services, linking Friedrichshafen initially to Berlin, Hamburg and Dusseldorf.

The first flights commenced on 12 January.

“We are passionate about connecting regions,” says Air Uniqon managing director Fabian Rosenberg.

Friedrichshafen hosts the Aero international trade fair for general and business aviation – which will take place in April – and the town has historical aviation links, as the founding location of aircraft firm Dornier and a manufacturing site of Zeppelin airships including the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin and LZ 129 Hindenburg.

Air Uniqon, founded in February last year, says its four-times weekly link to Berlin Brandenburg will restore a connection absent for about a decade.

“One-day business appointments, short trips and holidays to the capital and Lake Constance can be undertaken with immediate effect,” says Rosenberg.

Airport operator Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg chief executive Aletta von Massenbach says the operation “closes an important gap in the domestic German route network”.

“Regional centres such as the Lake Constance economic area need good connections to the capital,” she adds.

Dusseldorf will also benefit from resumption of a Friedrichshafen route, which was last available in 2019.

Rosenberg says the operation will create a “reliable alternative to time-consuming journeys by road or rail”.