German leisure service Condor is trimming its U.S. route map in 2025.
This week, the airline notified 4 U.S. airports of its plans to chop its seasonal nonstop service from Frankfurt.
Subsequent yr, the service will finish flights from its German base metropolis to San Antonio Worldwide Airport (SAT), Baltimore/Washington Worldwide Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Minneapolis-St. Paul Worldwide Airport (MSP) and Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport (PHX).
As a part of the community shake-up, Condor can be trimming two further North American routes to Edmonton and Halifax in Canada.
Court docket ruling prompted change
In slashing its 2025 North American plans, Condor cited a latest German excessive court docket ruling that appeared prone to scale back its passenger depend within the new yr.
As a part of antitrust laws in Germany, the nation’s flag service, Lufthansa, had been required to permit Condor passengers flying to Frankfurt to attach seamlessly onto Lufthansa flights. That regulation had primarily allowed U.S. passengers to entry almost all of Germany by reserving with Condor.
However a latest German Federal Court docket of Justice ruling overturned these guidelines, Condor mentioned in asserting the route cuts.
“This isn’t a choice we take evenly,” Condor business director Jens Boyd mentioned in a press release Monday. “We deeply remorse the lack of connectivity and repair it will trigger.”
San Antonio loses solely European service
The elimination of Condor’s service is a specific blow for San Antonio, which simply noticed the airline launch nonstop flights to Frankfurt this yr — its first (and solely) nonstop service to Europe.
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Now, it seems San Antonio passengers will once more be with out nonstop transatlantic choices in 2025, barring one other service asserting service.
As of now, SAT’s solely worldwide choices embody a half dozen or so quick flights to Mexico.
“We’ll proceed to work on increasing nonstop service from SAT,” airports director Jesus Saenz, Jr. mentioned in a press release. “Our neighborhood has lengthy requested for service to Europe, and final summer time’s numbers proved that we do have a market that may maintain nonstop service.”
Learn extra: Condor premium economic system A330neo evaluate: Is it value the additional value?
Condor’s US development interrupted
Condor’s pullback in North America comes after breakneck transatlantic development in recent times.
In line with information from aviation analytics agency Cirium, its complete seats between the U.S. and Germany have been up 50% in 2024 in comparison with 2023. That is after rising at a 30% fee a yr prior.
Condor’s colourful striped planes are unmistakable, and its flights are accessible not simply to vacationers prepared to pay for a seat but in addition to passengers utilizing factors and miles. As an example, the service has a frequent flyer tie-up with Alaska Airways, which permits Mileage Plan members to redeem their Alaska miles on Condor flights.
Come summer time 2025, vacationers ought to nonetheless be capable to fly Condor to Frankfurt from 9 U.S. cities, together with eight within the continental U.S. and from Anchorage, Alaska.
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