Condor has commenced Frankfurt to San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles, all taking off within one week. It means that the German leisure airline now has 12 US routes from Frankfurt, its most ever, with many resumptions in May and June.

Condor has started three US routes

Condor's three introductions are detailed below. They include Boston, which will benefit not just from point-to-point leisure demand, but also wider US travel via the airport with partner JetBlue, with multiple connecting opportunities now bookable.

  • Frankfurt to San Francisco: began May 19th, DE2092, 3x weekly (Monday, Thursday, Saturday), B767-300ER; ends September 24th. Competes directly with United (up to 2x daily, B777-200ER/B777-300ER/B787-9) and Lufthansa (1x daily, B747-8)
  • Frankfurt to Boston: started May 23rd, DE2038, 3x weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), B767-300ER (but see below); ends September 16th. Competes head-to-head with Lufthansa (up to 12x weekly, A340-300/B747-400)
  • Frankfurt to Los Angeles: began May 24th, DE2080, 3x weekly (Tuesday, Friday, Saturday), B767-300ER; year-round, but reduces to 2x weekly in winter. Competes directly with Lufthansa (13x weekly, A340-300/B747-8)

Read more: Germany Lags The European Recovery

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Boston first used the A330

The 3,670-mile (5,906km) link with Boston initially used D-AIYD, a 13.3-year-old, two-class, ex-Etihad A330-200. Condor started using it on March 17th this year, and it is one of three A330-200s in its fleet. They are less to supplement its mainstay B767-300ERs and more for crew training purposes ahead of the arrival of its first A330-900s.

Condor's US network summer 2022
Condor's US network in summer 2022. All are 'terminator' services except Fairbanks (FAI), which is triangular: it routes Frankfurt-Anchorage-Fairbanks-Frankfurt. Image: GCMap.

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Now 12 US routes from Frankfurt

Condor's US network this summer is shown below, organized by total seats for sale this summer. According to OAG, the carrier has 425,000 US seats, up by 9.2% over summer 2019 and twice the volume it had seven years ago.

  1. Seattle: first started in 2011 and resumed on June 3rd, 2021; 1x daily this summer, A330-200/B767-300ER
  2. New York JFK: began in 2014 and restarted on November 8th, 2021; 5x weekly, A330-200/B767-300ER
  3. Las Vegas started in 1999 and resumed on March 3rd; 3x weekly, B767-300ER
  4. Los Angeles (new)
  5. Portland: began in 2015 and restarted on May 19th; 3x weekly, B767-300ER
  6. San Francisco (new)
  7. Boston (new)
  8. Anchorage: started in 1997 and resumed on May 21st; 3x weekly, B767-300ER
  9. Minneapolis: began in 2014 and restarted on May 27th; 3x weekly, B767-300ER
  10. Baltimore: started in 2012 and will resume on June 4th; 3x weekly, B767-300ER
  11. Phoenix: began in 2018 and resumed on May 21st; 2x weekly, B767-300ER
  12. Fairbanks: started in 2001 and will restart on June 9th; 1x weekly, B767-300ER
Condor Phoenix
Condor resumed Phoenix on May 21st. It'll run 2x weekly until it ends for the season on September 29th. Photo: via Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

But, no more Pittsburgh or New Orleans

The three new routes play a vital role in this capacity growth, helping to offset the loss of Pittsburgh and New Orleans. Condor added Pittsburgh in June 2017, and it ran until September 2019, while New Orleans was introduced in May 2017 and ended for the season in September 2019. It is unclear if or when they'll resume.

But the rise in capacity is also from a huge increase to JFK – which has gone from winter-seasonal for Christmas demand to year-round – and growth to Seattle.

Have you ever flown Condor long-haul? If so, share your experiences in the comments.