German airline Lufthansa plans to start thrice-a-week direct flights from Delhi to Munich from March 2004, a top Munich airport official said on Monday.

Munich Airport President and CEO Michael Kerkloh told reporters in Bangalore that the service beginning next month would be the first direct air link between Munich and India.

Lufthansa already flies directly from Frankfurt, 260 miles from Munich, to Indian cities.

He said the Munich airport has built its second terminal through a joint venture with Lufthansa and has doubled its original capacity to handle 50 million passengers annually.

Munich, a city of Bavaria, the largest state in Germany, is also gearing up to host the Football World Cup in 2006 and is emerging as a major centre of the European Union, Bavarian Minister Edmund Stoiber said.

Bavaria also invited joint collaborations with India in the area of mechanical and electrical engineering, biotechnology, IT and medical technologies.

Addressing industry leaders at Indo-Bavarian business meeting organised by Confederation of Indian Industry, Stoiber said the state had expertise in medical engineering, environment transport, biotechnology, genetic engineering and new materials.

Bavaria with a population of 12 million people would emerge as the 'centre' of the European Union, when 10 countries and 25 major states join the bloc on May 1, and become the gateway for a market of 450 million people, larger than of Europe, he said.

Stoiber said Bavaria, which has a per capita income of $35,000, was also a hub in electronic, IT and aerospace industry.

He invited Indian students to study in the 28 universities of Bavaria, including 17 on applied sciences. "You have a resource capital of 600 million youth who are under 30 years. In Bavaria, we have a lot of people in the age group of 60 years to 80 years. We have to bring together the two, the strength of older generation and innovation of young people," Stoiber, who arrived here last night with a business delegation, said.