Lufthansa Group Airlines strengthens its long-haul services in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia

• Lufthansa’s first long-haul flights to/from Berlin again in winter timetable 2017/18
• Düsseldorf – Miami will initially be taken up by Lufthansa
• Eurowings: At least seven long-haul jets from North Rhine-Westphalia in 2018

As of 8 November 2017 Lufthansa will fly nonstop from Berlin to New York five times a week. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5:35 p.m., an Airbus A330-300 will take off in a westerly direction and arrive at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport at 9:35 p.m. The return flight leaves New York late at night and lands at Tegel Airport at 12:15 p.m. the next day. This is the first time since 2001 that Lufthansa has been stationing a long-haul aircraft in the capital city.

The resumption of the Düsseldorf – Miami connection from next winter comes in response to many requests from passengers in North Rhine-Westphalia. From 8 November 2017 there will be a three-weekly connection every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The two cities are nine flight hours apart. The flight leaves at 12:05 p.m. and reaches the city in Florida at 5:50 p.m. The return flight takes off at 7:30 p.m. on Airbus A330-300 heading for Düsseldorf, and it lands in the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia at 9:30 a.m. the next morning.

Eurowings is also expanding its long-haul air travel product in the coming winter schedules, adding further services from both Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports. In addition to the six Airbus A330s that are already stationed at Cologne/Bonn, Eurowings will be putting a seventh aircraft into long-haul service from 8 November, which will initially operate flights from Düsseldorf to Caribbean destinations.

Eurowings plans to further accelerate the growth of its long-haul operations in the 2018 summer timetable period, increasing its capacity to a ten-aircraft fleet. The expansion will give the budget airline a particularly strong presence in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, from which it will serve destinations worldwide with at least seven long-haul aircraft. The destinations served will include popular points in the USA, but also the Caribbean and the Far East. Lufthansa’s new Berlin-New York and Düsseldorf-Miami routes will also be transferred to Eurowings in summer 2018, adding Berlin’s Tegel Airport to Eurowings’ long-haul operations.

“We will only be able to achieve a stronger commitment to Düsseldorf, though, if the airport can provide conducive economic parameters and, above all, sustainably better-operating parameters,” stresses Lufthansa Executive Board Member and Eurowings CEO Thorsten Dirks.

As the biggest airline in North Rhine-Westphalia, Eurowings already plays a central role at Düsseldorf Airport, not least through the feeder flights it provides for the long-haul services of Star Alliance partners Singapore Airlines, Air China and All Nippon Airways.

Eurowings will also extend its budget long-haul product to Munich next year. Three Airbus A330s will be stationed at Munich Airport to operate these services from the end of March onwards.