The Port of Seattle is raising a stein to toast Condor Airlines’ announcement welcoming nonstop service from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Munich, Germany beginning in July 2017. The announcement adds to Condor’s service expansion from Sea-Tac, which recently extended existing Frankfurt service to year-round flights. Sea-Tac has become Condor’s largest U.S. gateway along with Las Vegas.
The Seattle to Munich flights will begin in July 2017 and will be Sea-Tac’s only nonstop connection to the Bavarian capital in Southern Germany. Munich is a business hub for Germany, with 90 of the country’s 1,000 largest companies based there, including BMW, Allianz, and Siemens.
“Munich may be best known for Oktoberfest, but the city is also a vibrant business and leisure destination which supports our strategy for better connections to Europe and around the world,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Tom Albro. “The mix of technology, manufacturing and aerospace industries aligns well with the Pacific Northwest’s economic drivers. Better passenger and air-cargo service to this industrial powerhouse will benefit our economy and create jobs here. And we can’t forget our beverage aficionados who will love nonstop service to a city with so many historic breweries.”
Munich is the third biggest German city and 12th largest in the European Union with a population of 1.5 million and regional population of close to six million.
“We are very pleased to further grow our capacity between Seattle and Germany by adding a new link from Sea-Tac to Munich, giving Pacific Northwest residents a unique choice for their travels to Germany,” said Wilken Bellmann, Head of Network Development Long-Haul at Condor. “With our numerous interline partnerships, we offer flights beyond Frankfurt or Munich to over 120 destinations across Europe at very competitive prices.”
Munich joins Guadalajara, Mexico and Shenzhen, China as the third new nonstop international destination to be announced at Sea-Tac this year and the airport’s 24th nonstop international destination. Sea-Tac has been the fastest growing large hub airport in the U.S. for the past two years, with 2015 passenger traffic setting a record for the fifth straight year with more than 42.3 million travelers. Through the first quarter of 2016, normally the slowest travel season, passenger numbers are up ten percent.
