Lufthansa launching flights to San Jose next spring

Germany’s flagship carrier Lufthansa recently announced it will be launching flights to San Jose from Frankfurt next spring. The airline’s decision to launch flights to a new destination in the United States is being seen as a big win for San Jose International Airport and the emerging signs of its resurgence.

Media reports said that the nonstop flights between Frankfurt and San Jose are scheduled to become operational effective from April 29, 2016. The reports also said that elated San Jose airport officials held a press conference to announce the launch of the new route and explained how big an achievement it was for the airport to begin flights from here.

The latest news by Lufthansa has come just less than two months after UK’s national carrier British Airways announced that it is looking forward to launch nonstop flights to San Jose from London. The flights on the new route would be launched from May 4, 2016. Earlier, leading Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines also started operating new nonstop flights to Beijing from San Jose in June 2015.

According to media reports, San Jose International Airport had no nonstop international flights for several years. The latest development with leading international airlines such as British Airways, Hainan Airlines and Lufthansa deciding to launch nonstop flights from here is being widely viewed as a remarkable turnaround. All Nippon Airways, however, was the only airline to launch its Dreamliner service to Tokyo Narita from San Jose in early 2013.

It may be recalled that San Jose city officials and many business groups led by Silicon Valley Leadership Group had lobbied hard to get flights started to Frankfurt from here. Lufthansa will be operating five-times per week nonstop flights to San Jose from Frankfurt. The airline will be deploying a long-range, four-engine widebody Airbus A340-300 aircraft to conduct flights between the two cities.