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Business travel may not be back to pre-pandemic levels, but that doesn’t appear to be a major issue for Lufthansa with the airline announcing three new routes to the US from summer next year (two of which include destinations that the airline has not served in the past).
‘Winter season’ may be just around the corner, but Lufthansa is already looking into the second half of next year and firming up its plans for summer 2024, and, from a US traveler perspective, the news is looking good.
From next summer, Lufthansa will fly to a total of 27 US destinations (that’s more US destinations than the airline served pre-pandemic) and within those destinations, you’ll find three new routes.
Summer 2024 will see Minneapolis and Raleigh-Durham being added to the Lufthansa route map for the first time while Seattle, which Lufthansa already serves out of Frankfurt, will be getting a new service from Munich.
Frankfurt – Minneapolis
From 4 June 2024, Lufthansa will operate between Frankfurt and Minneapolis 5x/week on the following schedule:
LH482 FRA 11:10 – 13:15 MSP (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)
LH483 MSP 15:15 – 06:40+1 day FRA (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)
This route is currently scheduled to be operated by one of Lufthansa’s new Boeing 787-9 aircraft featuring 26 all aisle access Business Class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 247 Economy Class seats.
The Premium Economy cabin offers seats with 38″ of pitch and 19″ of width (which is pretty for transatlantic Premium Economy nowadays), while the Economy Class cabin will offer seats with 32″ of pitch (better than a lot of other transatlantic Economy Class seats) and just 17″ of width (which will feel very tight).
Note: Lufthansa’s press release states that this route will be operated “throughout the year” so assuming nothing has been lost in translation somewhere, it would seem as if this route will operate into winter 2024.
Frankfurt – Raleigh Durham
From 6 June 2024, Lufthansa will operate between Frankfurt and Raleigh-Durham 5x/week on the following schedule:
LH408 FRA 10:20 – 13:50 RDU (Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri & Sat)
LH409 RDU 15:50 – 06:15+1 day FRA (Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri & Sat)
This route is currently scheduled to be operated by a Lufthansa Airbus A330-300 aircraft featuring 42 old-style (2-2-2 layout) Business Class seats, 28 Premium Economy seats, and 185 Economy Class seats.
The Premium Economy cabin offers seats with 37″ of pitch and 19″ of width (which is just about reasonable for Premium Economy), while the Economy Class cabin will offer seats with 31″ to 32″ of pitch and just 17.5″ of width (a cabin in which some seats will probably feel incredibly cramped to anyone of size or anyone who is 5′ 9″ or taller).
Note: Lufthansa’s press release states that this route will be operated “throughout the year” so assuming nothing has been lost in translation somewhere, it would seem as if this route will operate into winter 2024.
Munich – SEA
From 30 May 2024, Lufthansa will operate a daily service between Munich and Seattle on the following schedule:
LH408 MUC 15:30 – 16:55 SEA (Daily)
LH409 SEA 18:50 – 13:45+1 day MUC (Daily)
This route is currently scheduled to be operated by a Lufthansa Airbus A350-900 aircraft featuring 48 old-style (2-2-2 layout) Business Class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 224 Economy Class seats.
The Premium Economy cabin offers seats with 38″ of pitch and 18″ of width (a little more lateral room would have been nice, but it’s worth remembering that these seats offer up to 130 degrees of recline), while the Economy Class cabin will offer seats with 31″ to 32″ of pitch and 18″ of width – a cabin in which some seats will probably feel cramped to anyone tall or of size, but not too bad (relatively speaking) to everyone else.
Note: The Lufthansa press release doesn’t give any indication as to whether or not this will be a summer season service or a new year-round service.
Bottom line
As of summer 2024, Lufthansa will operate to more US destinations that it served before Covid closed down the travel world. This increased schedule across the Atlantic means that two US airports will be getting service from Lufthansa for the first time (Minneapolis & Raleigh Durham), while a third, Seattle, will get a new daily service from Munich (to complement the existing Lufthansa daily service from Frankfurt).
