Lufthansa will launch 3x weekly Munich to Phoenix flights on an Airbus A350-900 starting August 3, 2027, marking the first nonstop Lufthansa Group service to Arizona.
Germans love their hikes and outdoor activities so I imagine there'll be some demand from the European side as well
I heard so much German spoken while hiking around Utah. Vegas is a much easier airport for that but Arizona offers a lot of similar terrain and activities.
@1990_ wish this route existed in the early 2010s when I was on my Oktoberfest run! Happy to see this route added in, but LH being stingy with award seats means I don't see myself taking this very often, unless I pay for seats in <gulp> economy.
Epic! Would be nice if LH made available more partner J awards, especially for UA and AC. (Yup, not as-fun back there...)
@1990_ Yeah. I haven't really done Continental Europe for a few years (if you don't count Türkiye) and don't have plans to do so in the near future, so maybe LH has a change of heart in a few years.
Ah, it all depends on which side of the Bosphorus! I'd say the west side of Istanbul is still very much 'continental' Europe. (It's tough for me, but I'll try to ignore the Turkey-spelling 'issue').
@samar I was being facetious. Twelve hours overnight is not a trivial flight, but calling TATL flights 'short' is my stock response. And this is one of the longer of them. Mea culpa!
Lufthansa flew FRA-PHX from 2001-2004. Later on, it was operated more and more by Condor near the end but still under the LH code.
Lufthansa flew its own metal to Phoenix from 2001-2004. This is not LH Group's first nonstop to Arizona. Not sure why they make that claim.
Correct. The author does not know what he’s talking about and is just putting words in paper as clickbait. Lufthansa flew to Phx in the early 2000s and was pushed out of the market as an abject failure.
I can see AA / Iberia offering Madrid or Barcelona in the future and think that AA will begin Tokyo service from PHX soon. The 10th largest metro area, a leading high-tech hub and continues to grow as fast as Dallas and Houston. PHX is not just for the retired anymore. With AA committment to a new terminal, the PHX is rising!
@sunviking82 hopefully the rumored widebody order from AA will convince them to allocate some planes to PHX.
Don't fly Lufthansa. Hope to do so one day. In the meantime, really good to see them on the front-foot.
I was working in LH‘s marketing department in 2001, so I well remember all the promotion activities around the launch of Phoenix. At the same time they also added Denver and Abidjan to the route network.
Yea, March of 2001. As my name implies, I'm originally from AZ. I have photos from PHX, used to go snap BA's daily 744 when the LH A343 joined the rotation a few times a week.
The Asian routes are obviously tied to the chip making facilities built/being built in Arizona by TSMC. It is a huge facility.
Related to the summer schedule release today: Lufthansa pulled the A380 from the summer 2027 schedule between MUC-SFO. It was operated three times a week with the A380. Now it is an A350-900 with the old business class (non Allegris) every day for the summer of 2027.
Am I missing something? LH had FRA-PHX-FRA in the early 2000's.
I don’t get this route. Columbus was being subsidized. Is Phoenix that popular with the Germans? Who knew?
Ever hear of the Grand Canyon? Four hours north on fast roads, and you can rent a sports car. Many indigenous localities to the north and northwest, and Europeans are fascinated by native Americans. The weather up north is not bad, even in summer. But Europe is equally popular with Arizonans, and this is an alternative for those who have already hassled through Heathrow and CDG.
Who says this route isn’t also being subsidized? Up to $4m in support is available for this route. $5m if this was 5x/week or more frequent. See link to Skyharbor’s own disclosures.
So much noise about Columbus being supported when this is common place in the industry. Lucky just pointed it out CMH’s in the misleading headline.
https://www.skyharbor.com/media/mgjina1z/final-2024-2028-phx-air-service-incentive-plan.pdf
Wasn’t there a FRA flight in late 2000s?
German states rotate the start of their summer breaks, so not everyone is on the autobahn at once. For Munich (Bavaria), the summer school holidays (Sommerferien) run from August 3 to September 14, 2026, and will run from August 2 to September 13, 2027. That helps explain the start date.
Lufthansa flew from 2001-2004 between PHX-FRA. Before that it was LTU to Duesseldorf and then twice Condor from 2019-2024.