Slovakian regional carrier Danube Wings is to launch its first flights into the United Kingdom and in the process will introduce currently the only scheduled international route from Cambridge Airport and the first scheduled link to the UK from the Franche-Comté region of Burgundy, in France. The airline will offer twice weekly seasonal flights between Cambridge and Dole-Jura Airport, a mainly general aviation facility located 7 km southwest of Dole and southeast of Tavaux. It will use a 70-seat ATR 72 turboprop on the route which will operate between June and September 2012.

There are currently no direct scheduled services from Dole-Jura Airport, also known as Franche-Comté Regional Airport although Ryanair will launch services from Porto from next month. Danube Wings already serves the small Eastern French facility on a charter basis but will open a base at the airport this year and offer flights to three other destinations - Bastia, Girona and Nice.

“I am ecstatic to welcome Danube Wings to the Airport,” Archie Garden, Airport Director, Cambridge Airport told The HUB. “This is a groundbreaking development and the first of many exciting international services we plan to bring to Cambridge, especially with one of Europe’s rapidly developing airline companies and to such a beautiful and largely undiscovered region of France. We couldn’t be happier with Dole-Jura our next destination.”

The birthplace of famous French chemist Louis Pasteur, Dole is located in the heart of the picturesque Jura region and lies on the banks of the River Daubs, just a short distance from the major cities of Dijon and Besançon. Formerly known as the County of Burgundy, the province of Franche-Comté, which incorporates Dole, Jura and the surrounding area, is known as the lake district of France, with dozens of lakes, interspersed between picturesque small towns and villages. The new flights also give easy access to the city of Dijon and to French-Swiss border, with places such as Lausanne, Basel and Geneva all easily accessible.

Danube Wings will also launch flights on April 6, 2012 from its Bratislava base and Košice to the Italian city of Venice. The combined route will be operated on a three times weekly schedule in cooperation with Italian carrier Megaride Air and will involve a 90-minute stopover in the Slovakian capital for passengers flying to or from Košice.