UK regional carrier, bmi regional has expanded its partnership with Lufthansa at its Bavarian hub at Munich Airport with the addition of a fifth international route to its network.

The airline will bring the return of flights between Munich and Brno, Czech Republic with a new six times weekly service from November 16, 2015, adding to its existing routes to Liege (Belgium), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Bern (Switzerland) and Bristol (United Kingdom).

The flights will be operated using a bmi regional Embrear ERJ-145 under a codeshare arrangement with Lufthansa displaying both ‘BM’ and ‘LH’ flight numbers. The airline has tailored the schedule from each city to ensure seamless travel connections for business and leisure travellers via Lufthansa’s worldwide Munich network of more than 50 destinations.

"The new flights from Brno to Munich represent a significant step forward for bmi regional. The expansion in the Czech Republic also strengthens our established relationship with Lufthansa,” said Jochen Schnadt, Chief Commercial Officer, bmi regional.

“Brno perfectly fits into our operating model of adding up-and-coming business markets to our network and through our partnership with Lufthansa connect these high potential markets to the world,” he added.

The city is the second largest in the Czech Republic by population and area and the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region, located at confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers. Its direct international connectivity is limited to low-cost links to the Netherlands and the UK by Ryanair and Wizz Air and leisure links to the Mediterranean and North Africa from charter providers SmartWings and Travel Service Airlines.

The new bmi regional link will provide an important hub link from Brno and facilitate enhanced travel options across Europe and further afield to Asian, African, American and European destinations within Lufthansa’s worldwide network via its Munich hub.

"We are very excited about this important milestone in the history of Brno Airport. This new scheduled connection to Munich Airport provides a much needed boost to the city of Brno and South Moravia region,” said Jiri Filip, Chief Executive Officer, Brno Airport. “Not only will this provide a direct route into Germany, it also links us on a global scale to other cities and countries.”

Brno was previously linked directly to Munich by Cirrus Airlines between November 2005 and March 2007. During that period the airline carried an estimated 13,500 bi-directional O&D passengers on the route with aircraft averagely only a third full.

bmi regional now operates more than 300 scheduled flights a week across a network of 22 destinations in eleven European countries. Its scheduled network includes Oslo in Norway; Brussels and Liege in Belgium; Esbjerg in Denmark; Brno in Czech Republic; Rotterdam in The Netherlands, Bern in Switzerland; Toulouse and Paris in France; Bremen, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, and Munich in Germany; Milan in Italy; Jonkoping and Karlstad in Sweden, and Aberdeen, Bristol, East Midlands, Newcastle and Norwich in the UK. It also operates an extensive ad hoc charter business and flies on a contract basis on behalf of other carriers.