Seeking to improvise during a time of depressed demand on former bread and butter routes, Lufthansa is adding several new leisure destinations in 2021, including a pair of new longhaul flights to North America.
Lufthansa Adds New Longhaul Routes From Frankfurt In 2021
Lufthansa will add several exciting new destinations in 2021, several of which will directly challenge Condor.
New Lufthansa Service To Punta Canta
Lufthansa will start launch 3x-weekly service between Frankfurt and Punta Cana, Dominican Republican starting on March 29, 2021. This flight will be operated by operated by Brussels Airlines in cooperation with Eurowings. Lufthansa will compete with Condor on this route.
New Lufthansa Service To Zanzibar via Mombasa
Lufthansa will launch 2x-weekly flights from Frankfurt to Mombassa, Kenya with continuing service to Zanzibar, Tanzania. This flight will be operated by Lufthansa using an Airbus A330 and begin on March 31, 2021 according to the following schedule:
- OUTBOUND
- LH592 – departs Frankfurt (FRA) 6:30pm, arrives Mombasa (MBA) 4:05am+1
- 8h, 35m
- LH592 – departs Mombasa (MBA) 5:35am, arrives Zanzibar (ZNZ) 6:30am
- 0h, 55m
- LH592 – departs Frankfurt (FRA) 6:30pm, arrives Mombasa (MBA) 4:05am+1
- INBOUND
- LH593 – departs Zanzibar (ZNZ) 8:50am, arrives Mombasa (MBA) 9:45am
- 0h, 55m
- LH593 – departs Mombasa (MBA) 11:15am, arrives Frankfurt (FRA) 6:55p
- 8h, 40m
- LH593 – departs Zanzibar (ZNZ) 8:50am, arrives Mombasa (MBA) 9:45am
Condor operates nonstop service between Frankfurt and Zanzibar.
Note, the MBA – ZNZ segments will not be sold separately, as Lufthansa does not have Fifth Freedom rights to sell tickets for only that portion of the flight.
I visited Zanzibar in 2016 and had a wonderful time. You can read about my stay at the Park Hyatt Zanzibar here and my review of Stone Town, Zanzibar itself here (plus a very controversial post on chasing a guy who stole my money). In short, I highly recommend Zanzibar…it was great.
New Lufthansa Service To Anchorage
On June 3, 2021 Lufthansa will launch 3x-weekly service between Frankfurt and Anchorage. Condor has operated that route for years and Lufthansa will now go head-t0-head with its competitor. This flight will be operated by Brussels Airlines in cooperation with Eurowings.
Malé and Mauritius Become Year-Around
Currently, Lufthansa services the Maldives and Mauritius during the winter season. Starting in 2021, it will serve both destinations year around.
The Malé flight will be operated by Lufthansa while the Mauritius flight will be operated by Brussels Airlines in cooperation with Eurowings.
Brussels Airlines In Cooperation With Eurowings?
Lufthansa has long struggled with its Eurowings subdivision and has also yet to find a coherent long-term strategy for its Brussels Airlines division. Although it attempted to merge the two, Belgium fought back and Brussels Airlines will remain a stand-alone carrier within the Lufthansa Group.
The fact that we don’t know which crews or which service levels will be offered onboard is further testament to Lufthansa’s ever-evolving strategy with these two airlines.
> Read More: Lufthansa’s Muddled Eurowings Strategy
> Read More: Sabena Take-Two? Brussels Airlines On The Brink
CONCLUSION
While Lufthansa claims the new flights are loaded in the system, I do not see them yet with the exception of the Lufthansa-operated flights. Once they are, I’ll update this post with aircraft type and schedule.
Expect more announcements like this. As tourism rebounds before business travel, expect network carriers to branch well-beyond their comfort zones and further emphasize leisure destinations well into 2021.
image: Aero Icarus / Flickr
Anchorage ??…. who in heaven’s name would want to fly from Germany to Anchorage ?
It’s one of the major freight forwarding hubs in the world. This is entirely a play to get cargo and passengers are not even factoring in the equation.
It will probably be operated by Brussels Airlines crew and planes but be Eurowings coded, since LH seems hell=bent on offering as few as possible flights that would quality for *A benefits. I have yet to see an SN coded flight that doesn’t touch BRU.
Condor was flying to Whitehorse YK (YXY) in previous years. There was a lot of tourists that would the take land tours through Canada and down the Oregon coast. I could see similar demand for ANC from tourists when tourism picks up. This appears to be positioning for an increase of demand in 2021.
It will be Eurowings service level (which for longhaul I’m not sure if that different to say Brussels Airlines anyway). This may potentially transfer over to that new entity they are setting up, “Ocean”, which appears to be rehiring formerly laid off crew from Sunexpress. Things were not confusing enough it would seem.