San Antonio, Texas will gain its first nonstop airline route to Europe next year as German leisure carrier Condor plans to direct summer flights to Frankfurt.
With a population of more than 1.5 million, San Antonio is the seventh-largest in the U.S. and the second-largest city in Texas. It’s one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country. Yet its air service has historically lagged other comparably-sized cities, especially given the even faster growth around Austin, about 85 miles away.
A collection of San Antonio businesses, including grocer H-E-B, USAA, Holt Cat and Frost Bank, contributed more than $2 million to a fund to help subsidize new direct air service to 18 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, along with nonstop flights to London and Frankfurt, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
Condor will receive $1.3 million in financial support from San Antonio for the Frankfurt route over the next two years, including a $900,000 marketing grant, city officials said.
Condor’s new, thrice-weekly San Antonio flights will use an Airbus A330-900neo aircraft with 310 seats and will operate from May 17 to Sept. 6. Condor has offered prior seasonal service from Austin to Frankfurt, a route that Lufthansa now operates year-round, and plans flights from Frankfurt to 11 other U.S. cities in summer 2024.
“This is just the beginning of so much more to come at SAT,” the airport’s director, Jesus Saenz, said in a statement. In July, the airport surpassed 1 million monthly passengers for the first time.
UPDATE: Adds details on financial support for the new Condor route.
