Lufthansa announced Tuesday that it will begin flying nonstop between Frankfurt, Germany, and Raleigh-Durham International Airport next summer.
Lufthansa becomes the 16th carrier doing business at RDU and the fifth based outside the United States, after Air Canada, Air France, Bahamasair and Icelandair. Its inaugural flight from the Triangle will be June 6, 2024.
Frankfurt is Lufthansa’s hub in Germany, with connecting flights to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.
The United States is the airline’s most important market outside of Europe, said Dirk Janzen, a regional vice president for passenger sales.
“We are thrilled to increase our footprint in the U.S. with the announcement of the new Raleigh-Durham to Frankfurt route,” Janzen said in a statement. “With Raleigh-Durham’s growing economy and infrastructure, as well as its numerous universities and academic institutions, it made perfect sense to serve this region with our flights that offer global connectivity.”
Frankfurt becomes the eighth international destination that airlines now serve from RDU, a first for the airport. Others include three in Europe (Reykjavik, Paris and London); two in Canada (Montreal and Toronto), and one each in Mexico (Cancun) and the Bahamas (Freeport).
Lufthansa will operate the flights year around 5 days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Flights will arrive at RDU shortly before 2 p.m. and leave shortly before 4 p.m.
The announcement comes on the heels of heels of a busy summer at RDU. In July, nearly 1.4 million passengers passed through the airport, the most in any month in its history. RDU is on track to surpass the previous annual record of about 14 million set in 2019.
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