This story has been updated.
A German airliner will start offering nonstop flights to and from Frankfurt and the San Antonio airport next year, officials announced Thursday.
Offered by Condor, the air service is the first direct flight to Europe ever for the San Antonio International Airport and comes amid a major overhaul of the facility.
“We are officially transatlantic,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “This is probably the most historic announcement we could make with regard to air service in San Antonio.”
The new service opens nearly every city in Europe to San Antonio travelers through connections in Frankfurt, he added.
The German airline will offer nonstop service to Frankfurt International Airport, the country’s main international airport, which services flights throughout Europe and hundreds of other destinations via 81 different carriers.
The nonstop service will start May 17, with flights offered three days a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, through Sept. 6. The 10-hour and 20-minute flight will have evening departure times.
Condor plans to offer the flights on its new fleet of 310-seat Airbus A330-900neo aircraft which has three cabin classes — business, premium economy and economy.
Tickets are now on sale.
The new air service has been in the works for more than a year, said officials with the city’s airport and economic development groups and Condor.
“From an airline perspective, a new route is one of the most exciting things that can happen within an airline,” said Mikko Turtiainen, Condor’s director of sales-Americas.
Consumer demand played a large role in determining that San Antonio could support a nonstop flight to Europe, said Jesus Saenz, director of airports for the City of San Antonio.
Frankfurt has the highest number of passenger demand going into Europe from San Antonio, he said. In 2022, about 300 passengers per day traveled to and from SAT and Europe.
“That’s without us having [direct] service,” he said. “Think about how attractive it’s going to be … now that you have direct service coming out of here. It’s a different game that we’re playing now.”
The air service to Frankfurt makes San Antonio’s airport much more competitive for the entire region, he added.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport offers direct flights to Frankfurt on Lufthansa airlines, and two nonstops to London.
Until now, San Antonio’s only direct flights abroad went to Mexico. San Antonio travelers trying to reach destinations in Europe took flights with single or multiple stops and layovers in other U.S. cities.
Frankfurt has been on local officials’ list of desired destinations for several years.
Results from a survey fielded by the city’s aviation department in 2019 showed that San Antonio travelers flying to Europe are more likely to be headed for Frankfurt, rather than London, the most common destination for U.S. travelers.
Likewise, San Antonio is also Frankfurt’s largest unserved U.S. market, Brian Pratte, chief air service development administrator, said at the time those findings were released.
Turtiainen said San Antonio is a perfect match for the airline which was founded in 1956 and now flies to 17 cities in North America. Though many people don’t know Condor well, once they try the airline, “it becomes one of their favorite airlines and that’s what I truly believe will happen also here in the greater San Antonio area.”
Frankfurt is the fifth-largest city in Germany and, as the largest financial center in continental Europe, is home to the Central European Bank. It is a half-hour drive south to Darmstadt, a sister city to San Antonio.
While the new Frankfurt flight is intended to serve an untapped leisure travel market, it’s also viewed as critical to serving and expanding San Antonio’s trade and development growth.
“These new flights obviously will help us open up some pathways to particular industries that are strong on both sides, including advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity,” Nirenberg said.
Visit San Antonio President and CEO Marc Anderson said the flight goes both ways and will contribute to the region’s tourism market. Prior to the pandemic, about 15,000 people visited San Antonio from Germany every year. The goal is to double that by 2026, he said.
“This route to Europe offers not only nonstop access to Frankfurt and Germany, but Frankfurt is a gateway to all of Europe,” he said. “It opens up all German residents and Europeans to the beauty, the essence the excitement, the history, the evolution of the fastest-growing city in the United States San Antonio.”
The 20-year, $2.5 billion plan to upgrade the airport with a new terminal and new gates, improved runways and roadways has caught the attention of airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said City Manager Erik Walsh.
The planned construction of three new wide-body gates will help accommodate larger aircraft for flights abroad.
“This is why we invest in our airport — to be able to continue to expand service,” as the region’s population grows,” Walsh said.
A two-year air service agreement between Condor and the City of San Antonio includes an incentive package worth almost $1.3 million in airport use fee waivers and marketing support.
SAT’s air service incentive program is used to attract and support carriers that provide nonstop service to certain target markets for 12 to 24 consecutive months, or seasonal service for three months.
In May, City Council doubled the fee waivers, from 50% to 100%, that could be offered during the second year of service for certain unserved international routes.
Through the Air Service Development Fund from Greater:SATX and Visit San Antonio, the airline also could receive a financial rebate if seats go unsold.
Condor’s air service to Frankfurt in 2024 is locked in, but the following year could remain the same or bring changes to the flight schedule depending on how next year goes, Saenz said.
“Condor is helping us by tapping into our travel demand and opening up San Antonio to other European and Indian markets,” said Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, president and CEO of Greater:SATX. “And from Frankfurt to be specific, you could connect nonstop to almost 300 destinations in over 90 countries and I am excited today to emphatically say that San Antonio is a global city.”
The announcement could lead to more air service, but not necessarily right away, Pratte said.
“The last two to three days, there’s been so much buzz on social media because someone said, ‘I think there’s a new long-haul flight coming,'” Pratte said. “Now all of a sudden it’s out there and now the entire world sees this. And that also means all the airlines get to see that as well [and] success begets success.”
But, “this took six years,” he added.
“These things don’t happen overnight,” said John Dickson, chairman of the air system development committee. “Now the real hard part begins. It’s one thing to get this flight — it’s another thing to have it five years from now.”
In other airport news, officials also said construction will start in 30 days on the new ground loading facility that is expected to attract more low-fares air service to SAT when it’s completed in early 2025.
