Lufthansa Is Betting on Phoenix While German Visitors to the U.S. Slide

Lufthansa announced on October 20 that it will fly Munich to Phoenix, starting August 3, 2027. The service will run three times a week on a 293-seat Airbus A350-900. It follows the previous day’s announcement of Frankfurt to Columbus, Ohio, and the group describes its current growth as its largest network expansion since 2020.

The timing is notable because German travel to the United States has been falling. U.S. government data cited by trade coverage show 983,296 German arrivals from January to August 2026, down 23.9 percent from the same period of 2024 and 15.5 percent from 2025. Germany recorded the largest absolute decline among 48 European source markets analyzed.

Broader transatlantic traffic is soft too. In July 2026, Germany-U.S. air traffic was down 3.5 percent from a year earlier and UK-U.S. traffic was down 6.5 percent. Cirium data reported earlier this year showed Europe-to-U.S. bookings down 14.2 percent year over year.

One analysis of the route argues Lufthansa has not disclosed its traffic assumptions or any incentive terms, and calls the economics uncertain; that is the author’s opinion, not a finding that the routes will fail. Phoenix offers about 879 weekly seats each way on those numbers, and part of the bet is likely on traffic flowing in both directions.

Sources: eTurboNews