Air Berlin introduced scheduled flights (which could be booked directly with the airline rather than via a tour operator) in 1997, initially linking a number of secondary German airports to Mallorca. By 2002, 35 percent of Air Berlin's tickets were sold directly. In the same year, the airline expanded beyond holiday destinations as low-fare flights marketed as "City Shuttle" to London, Barcelona, Milan and Vienna started. Besides Berlin-Tegel, these routes were opened at six German airports (Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg, and Paderborn/Lippstadt) that until then had not been served by one of the rising European low-cost carriers. In what later became a hallmark for Air Berlin as a "semi-low cost carrier", the airline offered complimentary meals and seat reservations, in contrast to its competitors Buzz, Hapag-Lloyd Express, Ryanair and Virgin Express.