Few Avios, little tax – the new Stuttgart / Vienna to Abu Dhabi airberlin routes

If you are heading to the United States or the Middle East, airberlin is an excellent option.  You will minimise your taxes and, in some cases, the Avios spent.

I wrote a long overview of airberlin in this Avios Redemption University article.  I recommend that you take a look at it if you are not familiar with the airline.

The ‘sweet spot’ on airberlin in Berlin to Abu Dhabi.  Because this just falls under 3,000 miles, you only need 50,000 Avios return in Business Class and 25,000 Avios return in Economy.  Tax will be around £75.

All airberlin Business Class seats now have a flat bed.  On the Abu Dhabi route, you also benefit from a free chauffeur service in Berlin and Abu Dhabi as they are Etihad codeshare routes.

Note that Dusseldorf to Abu Dhabi is just over 3,000 miles.  An Avios redemption on this route is poorer value at 80,000 Avios return in Business and 40,000 return in Economy.

The new Stuttgart route

airberlin announced last week that it is launching Stuttgart to Abu Dhabi from December 1st.  There will be one flight per day.

Slighly oddly, it is using an Airbus A320 aircraft.  This is a single aisle short-haul aircraft.  It will be configured with 12 business class seats and 132 economy seats – this means, I imagine, that they are not treating it as a long-haul route.  You simply couldn’t get 12 flat bed seats and 132 economy seats into an A320.

At the time of writing, redemption seats were not loaded into ba.com.  Great Circle Mapper says that Stuttgart to Abu Dhabi is 2,967 miles.  This means that is should also fall into the ‘sweet spot’ of 50,000 Avios return in Business and 25,000 return in Economy.  If they are not running flat beds then the Berlin service will be far preferable.  If that is not available this would make a good value alternative.

The new Vienna route

airberlin has a sister airline in Austria called NIKI which was once owned by racing driver Niki Lauda. NIKI is launching an identical service to Abu Dhabi from Vienna which starts on November 1st.

Again, it will run daily and use an Airbus A320.

I have seen NIKI flights on ba.com before for Avios redemption although this route does not yet seem to be available.  At 2,637 miles it would fall clearly into the 25,000 / 50,000 Avios zone although I have no idea what sort of business class service NIKI offers.

What about Aer Lingus and Abu Dhabi?

I wonder when Aer Lingus is finally going to announce an Abu Dhabi route?  It is quite a while now since Etihad invested in the airline, and the only way that Etihad can make a decent return is to start funnelling long-haul passengers to Abu Dhabi.  The goal should be to persuade Irish passengers flying East not to fly to London for a BA connection.

With airberlin now offering services to Abu Dhabi from Berlin, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Vienna to supply transfer passengers to its major shareholder, it is odd that Aer Lingus is not doing the same.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 2023)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.