Assessing San Antonio's first European nonstop flight
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The opening season of San Antonio's first nonstop flight to Europe is coming to an end, and there's a lot riding on how it went — and next year's performance.
Why it matters: It's not a given that San Antonio will keep Condor's route to Frankfurt, Germany, if more people don't use it and it's not profitable enough for the airline.
The latest: Next year's nonstop will run on Fridays and Mondays — down from this year's schedule, which also had the route running on Wednesdays.
- The 2025 season will run from May 23 to Aug. 29.
A spokesperson declined to share specifics of how the route has performed and the average number of booked seats, citing competition.
Reality check: The first year on a new route is always the toughest, Mikko Turtiainen, Condor's director of sales for the Americas, tells Axios.
- "Three (days) a week is a lot of capacity to bring into a brand-new market that hasn't had a nonstop into Europe before," Turtiainen says. "We're looking forward to getting that balance between supply and demand."
- Turtiainen says Condor is looking for two things next year: more full flights and higher ticket prices, which go hand in hand. The more demand for a flight, the higher the ticket cost.
Catch up quick: The German airline announced last September it was launching service between San Antonio and Frankfurt, a transportation hub that easily connects travelers with other European destinations. The first seasonal run of service began in May and ends on Friday.
- Condor is interested in San Antonio because it's a midsize market (a target for the discount-friendly airline) in a region with abundant German heritage.
- Condor even sought to lure Austinites to travel down Interstate 35 for the route to catch better deals on tickets.
Condor has a two-year, $1.3 million incentive agreement with the city.
- That helped bring the airline to San Antonio, Turtiainen tells Axios. But the finances have to make sense to continue service beyond 2025 — and Condor is committed to making it work, he says.
The intrigue: San Antonio is a late-booking market, Turtiainen says.
- We see you, folks booking last-minute European vacations.
By the numbers: Condor has 18 nonstop routes between North America and Frankfurt in the summer season, and just four in the winter, per Turtiainen.
- The airline targets summer leisure travelers, a time frame and demographic that makes sense for the company — despite the assumed difficulty in convincing people to visit San Antonio in the middle of the summer heat.
Zoom out: This year, Condor also launched nonstop routes from Frankfurt to Miami and Calgary, Alberta, in Canada.
What's next: Expect to see continued marketing for the flight at major events like Wurstfest and Fiesta, as Condor plans to continue working with tourism organizations like Visit San Antonio to get the word out.
The bottom line: "Our sales team here in the U.S., we have a lot of focus to make San Antonio work," Turtiainen says.
- "We understand the market more than we did a year ago."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show Condor's agreement with the city is an incentive agreement (not a subsidy agreement).