German airline Lufthansa has announced plans to commence a new Frankfurt service from Cork Airport in Ireland mid this year.
The twice-weekly Cork-Frankfurt service will connect Cork and Frankfurt for the first time in 18 years.
With a flight time of two hours and five minutes, Lufthansa will operate two flights per week, on Monday and Friday, starting from 25 June.
This new service from Lufthansa will complement the current Swiss International Airlines service, with both carriers providing connectivity via their Lufthansa Group Hubs at Frankfurt and Zurich respectively.
Cork Airport managing director Niall MacCarthy said: “These are challenging times for aviation globally, so it is heartening to see Lufthansa make this important decision now, to start services from Cork Airport this summer. We have worked long and hard over many years to secure connectivity to Frankfurt and beyond with Lufthansa for a myriad of businesses and internationally trading companies across the South of Ireland.
“Cork Airport will emerge once again as Ireland’s second-largest airport with the most passengers, routes and connectivity. Our new partnership with Lufthansa shows our ambition in this regard when international travel recovers from the effects of Covid-19.”
Lufthansa Group UK, Ireland and Iceland sales senior director Andreas Koester said: “We are pleased to announce that a second airline within the Lufthansa Group will be serving Cork. Starting in the summer schedule, Lufthansa will also be offering flights from Cork, alongside Swiss International Airlines, emphasising the importance of Ireland within our network.
“Furthermore, with this additional connection, we are looking forward to offering our customers even more travel options within our worldwide, multi-hub system. As one of the largest carriers in Europe, with just a short stopover in Frankfurt, our customers will have access to hundreds of connections to numerous destinations within our vast, global network.”
Lufthansa airline runs a wide-ranging network of regional services within Germany, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, North America and Latin America.
