Already an Air Berlin "topbonus" partner since February 2008, Europcar has now become Air Berlin's car hire "Premium Partner", offering Air Berlin customers the best rates publicly available, including pre-paid rates reflecting "early-bird" deals in many Air Berlin destinations.

Europcar hires will now be part of the Air Berlin flight reservation process, and also available via dedicated co-branded micro-sites within the www.airberlin.com website. Air Berlin ticket desk call centres in Germany will transfer calls to Europcar Germany call centres, open 24/7. Air Berlin will also be promoting Europcar products and services at airports, at the ticket desks and check-in counters, on the doors of the planes, in the magazines and on the TV on board.

Guirec Grand-Clément, global sales and marketing director at Europcar International, said: 'Being elected "Premium Partner" pays testimony to the partnership's value to our customers, as well as to both partners. Europcar looks forward to welcoming even more Air Berlin customers to our stations across the network.'

To celebrate the Premium Partnership launch, Europcar will be running a special "Drive Bigger, Pay Less" promotion for Air Berlin passengers who can benefit from competitive rates, including airport car hire from all major UK airports. The "Drive Bigger, Pay Less" promotion applies to reservations booked before 18 July, for hire until 12 September 2010, while supplies last.

In addition, while topbonus members continue to receive 500 award miles per hire across the Europcar network, as a Premium Partner Europcar will offer double award miles to topbonus customers. This double award miles offer applies to reservations booked online before 1 October, for hires up to 15 October, 2010.

Throughout this promotional period, Europcar will also offer topbonus members "miles bonuses with a difference" which allow customers booking their car hire via the micro-site to choose between "Status" and "Bonus" miles for their reward.