A group of German airline executives have been on a road trip across Central Texas in recent days, a whirlwind tour meant to fill seats on San Antonio’s first-ever direct flights to a European destination.
Condor Airlines announced last September it would launch the nonstop flight from San Antonio to Frankfurt on May 17, 2024, opening ticket sales the same day.
With beer steins held high, local officials cheered the news and welcomed the airline with a two-year agreement that gives Condor $1.3 million in airport use fee waivers and marketing support.
Marketing the flight has kicked into high gear, on both continents, now that the summer travel booking season is about to begin.
By luxury coach, the ensemble that included the head of sales for Condor and officials from the airport, economic development leaders from Greater:SATX and San Antonio’s tourist office made stops in Fredericksburg, Boerne, New Braunfels and Castroville before meeting with 300 local business leaders at a San Antonio event.
“The message is basically that there’s a new option for getting to Europe,” said Mikko Turtiainen, director of sales for the Americas at Condor Airlines. “We’re extremely proud as an airline to be the first-ever nonstop from San Antonio into Europe, going right into the heart of Europe into Frankfurt. It brings so much opportunity.”
Whether or not travelers embrace that opportunity is still to be determined as ticket sales are expected to pick up in March and April when consumers start to make their summer plans, Turtiainen said.
Condor Airlines expects to fill the three-day-a-week flight given past demand among the area’s leisure and business travelers for a flight to Frankfurt, he said, its mutual ties to the automotive industry and German heritage, and the high population of military in both regions.
Condor already offers a flight from SAT to Frankfurt with a stopover in places like Seattle and New York. From 2016-2018, the airline provided direct flights from Austin to Frankfurt but ended the service when Lufthansa Airlines added the same route. The Austin airport currently offers three direct flights to European cities London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam via other airlines.
Turtiainen said he didn’t know how many seats for the first flights out of SAT had been sold so far. “We are aiming for 90%” sold, Turtiainen said.
Through the Air Service Development Fund from Greater:SATX and Visit San Antonio, the city’s tourism office, the airline could receive a financial rebate if seats go unsold.
“Incentives, thresholds, any support — it helps with decision-making but at the end of the day, the defining factor for an airline is the demand and the performance of that route,” Turtiainen said. “When we get to September, I’m confident that we’ll all be happy in regards to looking at the performance that we see this summer.”
Founded in 1956, Condor is a leisure airline with over 9 million customers and about 100 destinations in Europe, Africa and the Americas. It has an on-time rating of 35%, according to travel site Going, which offers tips for flying on Condor.
The German airliner, with hubs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, began “refleeting” with wide-body planes in December 2022.
Condor’s boldly striped Airbus A330neo aircraft will appear on the landing strip of the San Antonio International Airport in May.
“It’s a beautiful aircraft,” Turtiainen said. “It’s an environmentally friendly aircraft. It speaks to comfort.”
There are 30 seats in business class, 64 in premium economy and 216 in economy. All seats feature large-screen entertainment monitors.
A recent price check on the Condor booking website showed round-trip fares for a May 17-31 flight in the lowest-cost of three economy classes to be $1,129. Baggage fees vary. The flight is 10 to 11 hours.
Added to the marketing efforts by Condor and San Antonio officials is a strategy by Visit San Antonio to promote the city to European travelers as well.
The travel bureau has a full-fledged marketing plan targeting both consumer awareness and the travel booking agents … in Germany,” said Cecilia García Redmond, chief brand and communication officer at Greater:SATX.
Condor is one of 98 airlines servicing the Frankfurt airport, which offers 306 destinations in 98 countries, making it an ideal central hub for travel in Europe.
“Frankfurt — it’s a great destination, but we also as an airline know that a lot of passengers do want to go elsewhere,” Turtiainen said.
From there, travelers can transfer to other flights on Condor, to flights on its partner airlines like Lufthansa or others, or catch a train to other cities. Booking for those connections can be done through the Condor website.
Likewise, promoting San Antonio as a destination for European tourists will highlight the entire region, including places like the Hill Country’s wine region.
Turtiainen has gotten to see it firsthand on this recent trip to San Antonio.
“I’m able to actually experience what Texan hospitality is,” he said. “The support has been a gift for us in regards to getting into the different communities and talking about the flight.”
