Stepping in to fill a void with the recent shut down of Air Berlin, Lufthansa launched new non stop service on November 8, 2017 (pictured above) connecting Berlin and New York five times a week. Every day except Fridays and Sundays, a Lufthansa Airbus A330-300 will take off at 17:35 from Berlin Tegel (TXL) to fly over the North Atlantic. Flight LH 406 arrives at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) at 21:35. The return flight leaves New York in the late evening around 23:20 and lands in Berlin the following day at 12:15.

Ahead of “a big day for Lufthansa and our customers,” Harry Hohmeister, Member of the Executive Board of German Lufthansa AG, had this to say: “After a break of 16 years, Lufthansa long-haul is back in the capital.” In the spring of 2001, Lufthansa had started a direct flight between Berlin and the US capital Washington, but this came to an end after only six months following the 9/11 terrorist attack in the USA. Hohmeister described the “new premium connection” to New York as “a clear commitment to Berlin by Lufthansa”, with the Lufthansa Group already being one of the biggest employers, with around 3,000 employees. More than 500 times a week, Lufthansa Group airlines connect the German capital with around 50 destinations in Germany and Europe.

Prof. Dr.-Ing Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, Chief Executive Officer of Berlin Brandenburg Airport GmbH: “A flight connecting Berlin to the U.S. is always something special, especially when it comes to a direct flight to New York. Lufthansa’s decision on this long-haul route is a strong commitment to Berlin as a location, which we very much appreciate.”

Lufthansa, www.lufthansa.com