Lufthansa finds Tampa Bay to be a potential tourism market

Germany’s national carrier Lufthansa is all set to launch its flights to Tampa from Frankfurt starting from September 25, 2015. The airline, which is renowned for pampering its customers traveling in business class cabins, said that it finds Tampa Bay area to be quite lucrative and wants to do something more than just filling up business class seats.

Don Bunkenburg, a top North American executive with Lufthansa, said that there is a great potential for growth at Tampa Bay area and boost its tourism market. He said that the airline has had a good business, but firmly believes that tourism is the growth area for international travel and the airline just wants to be a part of growing tourism prospects in Tampa Bay region.

Joe Lopano, who was brought in as CEO of Tampa International Airport in 2011, was entrusted with the task of bringing more international flights to the airport. Lopano succeeded in bringing Europe’s biggest airline Lufthansa to the Tampa airport.

According to Lopano, the need for Lufthansa was felt even more as the Tampa International Airport was able to get better connectivity to Frankfurt Airport, which is currently one of the most connected and busiest hubs in the world. Frankfurt is presently serving 295 cities in 105 countries around the world.

Lopano disclosed that Tampa International Airport and tourism officials had been wooing Lufthansa for the past three years to start flying out of Tampa and even committed to spending $1.5 million in waived airport fees and incentives.

Lufthansa, which is scheduled to launch its flights from Tampa to Frankfurt, will involve 11 hours of travel time. The airline will operate flights on the route with the help of an Airbus A340-300 aircraft with a carrying capacity of up to 398 passengers.