N830MH

http://airlineroute.net/2015/07/15/de-aus-jun16/

Condor adds nonstop Austin, TX to Frankfurt, Germany. This route will begin in June 2016. Only twice a week.

fassy

Austin? On Condor? Twice a weak?

Can't imagine Austin as a great holiday place... or is it to have a offer connections to the Mexico, Middle- or South-America and the Caribbean?

Interesting choice for opening a new route.

oliver2002

DE also flies to PDX and ANC, altough those destinations have some tourist angle.

fassy

Portland is a great base to start exploring the northern US Rockies, Yellowstone and surrounding National parks. Did it myself, just chose SEA instead but that doesn't make a huge difference. And of course home of the Nike museum... and remember... no sales tax

Anchorage a great base (the only one?) for the adventures Alaska trecking type tourist.

But Austin?

N830MH

And LAS, FLL, SEA, PVD & MSP as well.

fassy

Which are (besides MSP, no idea why you would want to go there? Probably due to the large group of German families living in the area ) all good locations for touristy things.

But again, Austin? Is there anything you could think of going there as a tourist? I'm trying to figure out why they plan to start such a route. There must have been some incentive to do that, right? Or probably they thought they need a new destination in the US, put on blind folds and threw a dart at the map?

oliver2002

Didn't we have a long discussion about the BA flight to AUS and how great that destination is .

malmostoso

Austin is a very cool place actually. It's a big center for arts, craft beer, music, BBQ...

Very appealing for the 25-35 demographic which probably is not the main group hanging out on FT

Then whether it's a commercially viable route it's a different story...

jjakobv84

BA is upgrading their daily route from a 787 to a 777 with additional capacity and First Class because the 787 is literally always full! I thought FRA was a natural next route from AUS to Europe, but am surprised it's Condor and not a UA/LH joint venture going in.

RaflW

Greater Austin MSA population is estimated at 1.9 million people. A lot of whom are white collar, i.t., etc jobs, younger than national average demographic. There is likely to be a fairly big leisure market there that gets tired of always having to connect in Houston or DFW (or drive there).

I don't believe San Antonio, which has a metro population over 2 million, has any nonstop service to Europe, and is an easy drive to AUS-Bergstrom.

Laugh if you want, but from Waco to San Antonio, Condor has access to upwards of 4 million potential passengers in easy driving distance.

Edit: Furthermore, LH flies nonstop to IAH & DFW, and Condor markets with LH for connecting service in FRA. I suspect Condor wouldn't want to compete in LH's longhaul markets.

danny1010

Austin has been a growing domestic tourist destination for years, but only recently has started to show up on the international scene with the growth of the South By Southwest technology/film/music festival and the US Grand Prix (F1). Add to that Austin City Limits festival and it being the new home of the X Games, there's not shortage of reasons for folks to come and visit.

Like jjakobv84 said, BA's 787 flights have been so successful, especially in the premium classes, that they're upgauging to 777 service. Rumors have been that the next international service to Austin would be to Seoul because Samsung's largest facility outside of Korea is the manufacturing center in Austin, but this is a nice pleasant surprise as well.

RaflW

I thought Condor flew to MSP because they connect with Sun Country, which gets German tourists access to quite a few US destinations. I've been curious to know how many US-based travlers are flying Condor out of MSP - it's nice to have some competition to DL (Icelandair provides a nice niche product as well, in fact they've announced a much shorter winter break coming up than previous winters - so I think they're happy with their MSP numbers as well).

fassy

I'm not loughing (perhaps a bit ) but really wondering... why? Thanks for that and RaflW's insights. Perhaps I stop by on my next trip across the states (usually do east-west or north-south trips with open jaws)

RaflW

Förlåt. I didn't notice that you were based in Sweden. Austin is a lovely city, great bars and clubs with live music. The Hill Country west of Austin is quite pretty and features some interesting hiking and recreation, too.

LXboy

Austin IS a tourist destination. Most of the time it is mentioned with cities like Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans - a perfect place for a some days in the city and some activities nearby.

Just google best tourist cities in USA and Austin is in the top 10 of most websites.