Lufthansa has announced plans to add another new destination in the United States. Just yesterday we learned how the airline will add a new route to Columbus, Ohio (CMH), but that’s not the only new market being added. Lufthansa Group will also operate its first-ever route to Arizona!
Lufthansa Munich to Phoenix route launches August 2027
Lufthansa has announced that as of August 3, 2027, it’ll launch 3x weekly flights between Munich (MUC) and Phoenix (PHX). The 5,823-mile flight will operate in both directions on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, using an Airbus A350-900. There’s no mention of the plane featuring Allegris cabins, so I’d assume this will be one of the carrier’s older A350s, without first class, and without the new business class (though that could change).
This will be the first time that any Lufthansa Group airline operates nonstop, regularly scheduled flights to Arizona. Lufthansa Group long haul low cost carrier Discover Airlines (at the time branded as Eurowings Discover) was going to launch a route from Frankfurt (FRA) to Phoenix in the spring of 2020, but the pandemic got in the way of that ever launching, and it never ended up happening.
Lufthansa notes how “the state capital of Arizona is one of the fastest-growing regions in the USA.” The timing of this route launching is noteworthy, since it comes after the peak summer travel season. If you’re looking at this from a European point of sale perspective, that makes sense, since people don’t generally want to visit Phoenix in summer. Then again, most transatlantic service in recent years has been motivated by a US point of sale, so…
How Phoenix Airport’s long haul service is evolving
Phoenix is of course a huge hub for American. In terms of long haul service, we’ve seen nonstop flights to London (LHR) on both American and British Airways for years. That’s perfectly logical, when you combine the local demand with the endless connection possibilities on American.
When it comes to service to Europe from Phoenix, in 2024 we saw Air France launch flights to Phoenix out of Paris (CDG), so that’s the only SkyTeam service to Europe out of the airport. Now we’re also seeing a Star Alliance service to Europe out of the airport.
This isn’t the first link between Germany and Phoenix, though. It’s a route that German leisure carrier Condor operated for quite some time, but it was ultimately cut in 2025, and hasn’t returned since.
Perhaps the biggest aviation story out of Phoenix has been the airport’s new Asia route within the past year, served not by one, but by two, Taiwanese carriers. There’s now service between Taipei (TPE) and Phoenix on two airlines — China Airlines launched flights in December 2025, and Starlux Airlines launched flights in January 2026.
Bottom line
As of August 2027, Lufthansa will launch a new 3x weekly flight between Munich and Phoenix. With this, Phoenix will have transatlantic flights from all three of the transatlantic joint ventures. That’s fair enough in terms of the overall competitive position of joint ventures, though obviously the airline is at a significant frequency disadvantage for overall service compared to American and British Airways.
What do you make of Lufthansa adding Munich to Phoenix flights?
Germans love their hikes and outdoor activities so I imagine there'll be some demand from the European side as well