Lufthansa Puts St. Louis on the Map With New Route From Frankfurt

Who’d have thought it — Lufthansa’s newest U.S. destination will be St. Louis, Missouri.

The inauguration of the new route on June 1, 2022, will be Lufthansa’s 19th U.S. destination.

Not only will this mark the first time Lufthansa lands in St. Louis, but the new route will also be St. Louis’ only nonstop connection to Europe, opening a whole new world of 1-stop itineraries via Germany to Europe and beyond.

Let’s review the details.

Hallo, St. Louis.

As of June 1, 2022, Lufthansa will operate a 3-times-weekly flight from its largest hub in Frankfurt to the Missouri city of St. Louis.

The flights will operate year-round on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays with the following schedule:

• Depart Frankfurt 10:45 a.m. — Arrive St. Louis 1:45 p.m.
• Depart St. Louis 3:45 p.m. — Arrive Frankfurt 7:45 a.m. (+1)

The aircraft used will be one of Lufthansa’s Airbus A330-300s. The A330-300s comprise a total of 255 seats: 42 in business, 28 in premium economy, and 185 in economy.

Lufthansa’s arrival at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) is an interesting one. Foreign airlines often target international airports that are a hub for their respective airline alliance, if they belong to one.

As Lufthansa is a Star Alliance member airline, it makes sense that it operates flights to major hubs of United (also a Star Alliance member airline), like Chicago (ORD), Denver (DEN), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington, D.C. (IAD).

However, St. Louis’ largest airline is Southwest — an ultra-low-cost airline with which Lufthansa has no interlining or codeshare agreement.

In this case, Lufthansa is being incentivized to start the nonstop route to St. Louis with a hefty subsidy.

Both the St. Louis County Port Authority and a regional business named Greater St. Louis, Inc. will provide Lufthansa with up to $2.5 million to help towards the route’s profitability. Additionally, STL will waive Lufthansa’s landing fees for 18 months should the airline maintain its 3-times-weekly schedule for at least 2 years.

Hot Tip: Learn more about seat options for the A330-300 in our definitive guide to Lufthansa’s direct routes from the U.S.

Final Thoughts

For those living in the St. Louis Lambert International Airport catchment area, the news of Lufthansa’s new nonstop route to Frankfurt is definitely something to be excited about.

Who knows, Lufthansa’s arrival may even be incentive enough for United to add new routes to the 6 that it currently operates to St. Louis from its major hubs.