In September 2023, Condor announced that it would launch a new route to my home airport of Miami. However, the route was initially supposed to be a summer seasonal service. There’s an exciting update, as flagged by @IshrionA, as Condor has extended this route to year-round.
Condor adding Miami flights with A330-900neos
As of March 23, 2024, German leisure airline Condor will be launching year-round nonstop flights between Frankfurt (FRA) and Miami (MIA). The service will operate with the following schedule 3x weekly (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays):
DE2044 Frankfurt to Miami departing 2:30PM arriving 7:10PM
DE2045 Miami to Frankfurt departing 9:10PM arriving 12:40PM (+1 day)
The 4,833-mile flight is blocked at 10hr40min westbound and 9hr30min eastbound. Condor will operate the flight with an Airbus A330-900neo, featuring 310 seats. This includes 30 business class seats, 64 extra legroom economy seats, and 216 economy seats.
When the route was first put on sale, it was only supposed to operate from March until September. I was a bit confused by that seasonality. Historically Condor has primarily targeted Germans headed abroad, rather than the other way around (though I think the passenger mix is starting to change).
With that in mind, you’d think that if Miami service were operated seasonally, it would be in winter, rather than summer. Not only is there a lot more demand for travel to Miami in winter, but leisure airlines often struggle with where to send their planes in winter, so you’d think Florida would be an obvious destination.
So I’m happy to see that Condor has had a change of heart, and will now operate its Miami flights year-round. Perhaps Condor just wanted to see how the flight sold initially, before putting flights on sale for winter.
It’s so nice to see Condor competing head-on with Lufthansa
It really has been such a pleasure to see Condor’s transformation as an airline. Historically the airline had an uncompetitive product due to its outdated Boeing 767s, and specifically flew to (almost) exclusively leisure destinations that Lufthansa wouldn’t serve.
However, the airline is now reinventing itself. For one, the airline is refreshing its long haul fleet with Airbus A330-900neos. These feature a competitive business class product, and even a business class “plus” experience.
Lufthansa has historically dominated the nonstop markets it operates in, and the pricing has reflected that. So it’s exciting to see that Condor is increasingly competing directly with Lufthansa, in most cases offering significantly better value.
Bottom line
Condor will be launching a new route between Frankfurt and Miami as of March 23, 2024. The airline will use its beautiful new A330-900neos for the route, featuring a great product. I’ll definitely be taking this flight at some point when traveling between Miami and Europe, and I’m happy that this flight won’t just be seasonal.
What do you make of Condor’s new Miami service?
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