AirBerlin to begin Berlin-L.A. nonstop flights

Los Angeles and Berlin became sister cities at the height of the Cold War in 1967. Now AirBerlin will link the two in a more direct way.

The airline plans to begin nonstop flights between the German capital and Los Angeles in May. Germany’s second-largest airline after Lufthansa says in a statement that the new service will run three times a week. A random search in May (May 19-26) showed an LAX-Berlin round trip for about 700 euros, about $960. The airline also is increasing Berlin-New York flights to daily service.

So back to sisterly love -- what does it all mean? The L.A.-Berlin Sister City Committee promotes student-exchange programs and even dedicated a patch of Griffith Park above the observatory to the Berlin Forest in 1990.

L.A. has 24 other siblings. Here’s the list of sister cities, in case you want to go visiting.

--Athens, Greece
--Auckland, New Zealand
--Beirut, Lebanon
--Bordeaux, France
--Busan, South Korea
--Eilat, Israel
--Giza, Egypt
--Guangzhou, China
--Ischia, Italy
--Jakarta, Indonesia
--Kaunas, Lithania
--Lusaka, Zambia
--Makati, Phillippines
--Mexico City, Mexico
--Mumbai, India
--Nagoya, Japan
--St. Petersburg, Russia
--Salvador, Brazil
--San Salvador, El Salvador
--Split, Croatia
--Taipei, Taiwan
--Tehran,Iran
--Vancouver, Canada
--Yerevan, Armenia