Lufthansa Group has just announced some significant transatlantic expansion, which will kick in as of the summer 2020 schedule. This latest development is in addition to the recent announcement of Swiss launching flights between Zurich and Washington.
This latest expansion involves Lufthansa out of Munich, as well as Eurowings (Lufthansa’s low cost subsidiary) out of both Frankfurt and Munich. So let’s take a look at the details.
In this post:
Lufthansa’s long haul Munich expansion
Lufthansa will be launching three new routes as of the summer of 2020 — two will be westbound and one will be eastbound. All three routes will be operated by A350-900 aircraft. These feature a total of 293 seats, including 48 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 224 economy seats.
Lufthansa’s new Munich to Seattle flight
As of June 1, 2020, Lufthansa will launch 6x weekly flights between Munich and Seattle. These flights will operate with the following schedule every day except Thursdays:
Munich to Seattle departing 3:30PM arriving 4:55PM
Seattle to Munich departing 6:45PM arriving 1:50PM
This will complement Lufthansa’s existing Frankfurt to Seattle flight.
Lufthansa’s new Munich to Detroit flight
As of May 4, 2020, Lufthansa will launch 5x weekly flights between Munich and Detroit. These flights will operate with the following schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays:
Munich to Detroit departing 12:40PM arriving 3:45PM
Detroit to Munich departing 5:35PM arriving 7:45AM (+1 day)
This will complement Lufthansa’s existing Frankfurt to Detroit flight.
Lufthansa’s new Munich to Bangalore flight
As of March 31, 2020, Lufthansa will launch 5x weekly flights between Munich and Bangalore. These flights will operate with the following schedule on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays:
Munich to Bangalore departing 11:55AM arriving 12:05AM (+1 day)
Bangalore to Munich departing 1:45AM arriving 7:30AM
This will complement Lufthansa’s existing Frankfurt to Bangalore flight.
Eurowings’ long haul Frankfurt & Munich expansion
This is a bit odd, since not too long ago I was under the impression that Lufthansa Group was planning on discontinuing long haul flights with Eurowings. Apparently not, and quite to the contrary, the airline is poised for significant growth.
All routes will be operated by A330 aircraft, featuring up to 270 seats.
Interestingly Eurowings has installed “proper” business class seats on this plane, and it’s basically the same as Lufthansa’s business class product.
I believe all/most of these new routes will be seasonal, given that they’re leisure-oriented, though I haven’t seen an end date published for the service.
So, what should we expect?
Eurowings’ new Munich to Las Vegas flight
As of April 6, 2020, Eurowings will launch 2x weekly flights between Munich and Las Vegas. These flights will operate with the following schedule on Mondays and Fridays:
Munich to Las Vegas departing 11:45AM arriving 2:40PM
Las Vegas to Munich departing 4:30PM arriving 12:55PM (+1 day)
This will complement Eurowings’ existing Dusseldorf to Las Vegas flight, as well as the Frankfurt to Las Vegas route that they’re launching as of October 2019.
Eurowings’ new Munich to Orlando flight
As of April 7, 2020, Eurowings will launch 3x weekly flights between Munich and Orlando. These flights will operate with the following schedule on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays:
Munich to Orlando departing 9:10AM arriving 1:55PM
Orlando to Munich departing 3:45PM arriving 7:20AM (+1 day)
This will complement Lufthansa’s existing Frankfurt to Orlando flight.
Eurowings’ new Frankfurt to Phoenix flight
As of April 29, 2020, Eurowings will launch 5x weekly flights between Frankfurt and Phoenix. These flights will operate with the following schedule on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays:
Frankfurt to Phoenix departing 2:05PM arriving 5:05PM
Phoenix to Frankfurt departing 6:55PM arriving 3:05PM (+1 day)
Eurowings’ new Frankfurt to Anchorage flight
As of June 1, 2020, Eurowings will launch 3x weekly flights between Frankfurt and Anchorage. These flights will operate with the following schedule on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays:
Frankfurt to Anchorage departing 10:30AM arriving 11:55AM
Anchorage to Frankfurt departing 1:55PM arriving 10:45AM (+1 day)
Bottom line
This is some huge expansion on the part of Lufthansa Group. It’s really interesting to see Lufthansa expanding significantly in Detroit and Seattle, given that these are two destinations where they don’t have much connecting traffic due to lack of partners.
The Eurowings expansion is fascinating as well, especially as the focus now seems to be on routes out of Frankfurt and Munich, rather than expansion out of Dusseldorf, as we have sometimes seen in the past.
What do you make of these new Lufthansa Group routes?
When Berlin's new airport hopefully opens next year, isn't Lufthansa going to grow from there?
As a person living in the metro Detroit area, there is both a large amount of German expats in Detroit (because of the auto industry - alot of German suppliers have their NA HQs here) and a couple of niche tourism sectors that for whatever reason seem to attract Germans (and other North / Central Europeans).
Detroit is considered one of the birthplaces of techno and there are alot of Germans that come here for...
As a person living in the metro Detroit area, there is both a large amount of German expats in Detroit (because of the auto industry - alot of German suppliers have their NA HQs here) and a couple of niche tourism sectors that for whatever reason seem to attract Germans (and other North / Central Europeans).
Detroit is considered one of the birthplaces of techno and there are alot of Germans that come here for the techo music festival and year around because of it.
While not unique to Germans, they seem to be particularly interested in "ruin porn" tours as well.
@ Brandon +1
Have you seen the posters at Sky Harbor featuring the 3 current non-stop flights from PHX to Europe? As if that’s acceptable lift for a city the size of PHX. What a joke.
The expansions in Detroit and Seattle definitely are interesting considering the lack of connecting feed (and the fact that they aren’t really leisure destinations). Since both are Delta hubs (and Orlando is a big focus city for Delta as well), it seems that there is the possibility that a Delta-Eurowings partnership (interline, or perhaps even codeshare?) is in the cards. Does anyone else feel that this might be a possibility, or am I reading too much into this?
Is first class going to be offered on any of these new Lufthansa routes?
Does Eurowings get full *A benefits or is it more like Level?
Could be an interesting future post -- the way some of these subsidiary LCCs work in the alliance system.
Surprised that no IAH-MUC flight. Considering IAH is a UA Hub and the Oil Business fills that A380 to FRA.
I'm surprised Lufthansa hasn't started service to MCO from Munich, it seems long overdue for that to happen
And they can fill the rest of the DTW-MUC flights with connections to and from that new Bangalore flight all day every day with the Indian population here...
DTW desperately needs some transatlantic competition. Fares on DL to anywhere in Europe are consistently high/absurd. LH is usually around $200 cheaper than DL/AF but people here would rather pay the extra $200 and earn SkyMiles. It has to be a significant savings for people in Detroit to consider another airline. While the flight to MUC is a welcome addition, I don't believe DTW will see lower fares to Europe until there are more than...
DTW desperately needs some transatlantic competition. Fares on DL to anywhere in Europe are consistently high/absurd. LH is usually around $200 cheaper than DL/AF but people here would rather pay the extra $200 and earn SkyMiles. It has to be a significant savings for people in Detroit to consider another airline. While the flight to MUC is a welcome addition, I don't believe DTW will see lower fares to Europe until there are more than 3 airlines offering transatlantic flights.
Just checked sky harbor web site and yep, the new service is real, rather than another one of those crazy rumors like Emirates to PHX a couple years back.
Wondering why they didn't do Munich to Phoenix instead considering Condor already does this route. Trying to push them out?
Surprised to see Detrit getting so much attention. How many auto executives can thee be going back and forth on any given day?
Anchorage is a bit out there as well.
Cheers to any expansion of intl PHX service, even if it's doubling up on an existing route. For the size of Sky Harbor, our intl options are truly abysmal. I do question their timing... Seasonal service starting in late April is the slow season here. They must be betting on AZ locals heading out, not Europeans heading here.
*time
@Ben Holz
Couldn't agree more. SEA-FRA is always full, and there are not enough alternatives to BA, when it comes to evening flights to Europe.
It's about to e Lufthansa (subsidiary of at least) returns to PHX. However Condor already operates that route.
That and I thought eurowings was cutting out long haul services.
Finally a direct flight from Europe to Phoenix with Star Alliance!
@Alex
Lufthansa used to have a service between Hamburg in New York in the 80s and 90s, but it was unfortunately abolished when they concentrated all the long haul flights in Frankfurt and Munich.
Another Thing You Forgot!!! The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Has Satellite Branches in Seattle and Detroit!!!! So it Would Make Since Lufthansa Would Deploy Their AIRBUSA350900 XWB Aircraft For These Two Cities!!! Lufthansa is All About The MONEY!!! I Have a Master List of All Lufthansa's Airbus A350 Routes That Fly to the United States. Lufthansa Group Has 15 A350'S Based in Munich Germany They Have Another 30 on Order with The Rest of Those...
Another Thing You Forgot!!! The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Has Satellite Branches in Seattle and Detroit!!!! So it Would Make Since Lufthansa Would Deploy Their AIRBUSA350900 XWB Aircraft For These Two Cities!!! Lufthansa is All About The MONEY!!! I Have a Master List of All Lufthansa's Airbus A350 Routes That Fly to the United States. Lufthansa Group Has 15 A350'S Based in Munich Germany They Have Another 30 on Order with The Rest of Those Going To Swiss Air and Austrian Airlines. Also Don't Forget The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Locations in San Francisco, Denver, Cleveland, Dallas-Fort Worth, St. Louis, MO. Carsten Spohr and The Rest of the CEO's PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS!!!✌
Tim W.
San Diego California
Pro-Lufthansa Fan
And yet still no flight from the US to HAM
United and Lufthansa are trying to increate the number of city pairs they can serve directly across the Atlantic. The idea is to increate the number of one stop options they can offer their customers.
In the past if you wanted to go from, say, Stuttgart to Detroit on United/Lufthansa you'd have to have two connections. Now just one, potentially being attractive to more customers, being able to charge a bit more for and freeing...
United and Lufthansa are trying to increate the number of city pairs they can serve directly across the Atlantic. The idea is to increate the number of one stop options they can offer their customers.
In the past if you wanted to go from, say, Stuttgart to Detroit on United/Lufthansa you'd have to have two connections. Now just one, potentially being attractive to more customers, being able to charge a bit more for and freeing up some seats on the hub to hub flights.
Delta is doing something similar, they offer routes from US non-hub markets to AMS or CDG. Meanwhile United and Lufthansa try to serve more 2nd cities from their exiting hubs. The effect is the same.
I think it's a great move though I am surprised but the number of seats they're adding at once. I wonder if they'll down size some hub to hub flights to compensate.
Waiting for a computer glich to allow a JFK-FRA-ANC award routing...
Any idea what plane will be used for DTW-MUC? 350?
Interesting that, other than IAD, Lufthansa Group's new flights are all into Delta and American hubs or into cities where United does not have a big presence. Could it be that Lufthansa is outgrowing its United partnership? Or is this just a case of trying to take away FRA and MUC nonstop traffic from American and Delta?
I wonder if there may be something in the works with a new AS partnership or at least codeshare esp. if they were to buy Condor that has an existing partnership with AS.
As if Eurowings wasn’t losing enough money already. What are they thinking?
LH MUC-DTW will compete with DL for autocompanies seats. I'm surprised it took them this long as the FRA and MUC routes to DTW with DL were always in need with more seats.
Eurowings getting ready to pin Condor against the wall.
Odd, I guess they still can’t make up their mind about what they want to do with Eurowings...
Also is it just me or are both the in and outbound Bangalore flights timed terribly?
Hey Ben,
EW will not discontinue their Longhaul Operations. The Aircraft will remain under the EW brand, but commercial steering and responsibility will be handed over to LH.
The MUC-SEA route was long overdue...
Your title is wrong. These 6 routes + ZRH-IAD make a total of 7 routes that LH Group are starting to the US.