Columbus Lands First Nonstop Flight to Europe With Lufthansa to Frankfurt

Columbus is getting its first nonstop flight to Europe. The Columbus Regional Airport Authority announced on Oct. 19 that Lufthansa will launch nonstop service between John Glenn Columbus International Airport and Frankfurt Airport in Germany beginning May 5, 2027, according to the airport authority’s announcement on FlyColumbus.com — the first scheduled nonstop link between central Ohio and Europe, and, according to The Columbus Dispatch, the first and only nonstop flight to Germany from Ohio.

The route will operate three times a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, aboard a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with Lufthansa’s Allegris cabin, the airport authority said. Flights will depart Columbus at 4:20 p.m. and arrive in Frankfurt at 6:15 a.m. the following day, a journey of about 7 hours and 55 minutes. Return flights will depart Frankfurt at 11:15 a.m. and arrive in Columbus at 2 p.m. local time. Bookings opened Oct. 20.

The aircraft will carry 287 passengers, including 28 lie-flat business class seats, 28 premium economy seats and 231 economy seats, according to the Columbus Regional Airport Authority. Passengers will check in at the airport’s existing terminal and depart from Concourse C, and returning travelers will complete U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing on arrival at John Glenn Columbus, the authority said.

Frankfurt is Lufthansa’s largest hub, offering connections to about 130 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India, according to the airport authority as reported by The Columbus Dispatch. That means a traveler leaving Columbus in the late afternoon can reach cities such as Rome, Paris and London the next morning with a single change of planes in Frankfurt — without first connecting through another U.S. airport, a detour central Ohio travelers have always had to make.

Airport leaders say the route has been their top target for years. “[A] non-stop to Europe has been our number one priority. Columbus is ready for that with the growth here and the businesses locating here. Europe is such an important gateway,” Daren Griffin, the authority’s president and chief executive, told The Columbus Dispatch. In the authority’s official press release, as reported by Islands, Griffin said the service “establishes Ohio’s gateway to continental Europe.”

The business case behind the route is substantial. Germany is the third-largest source of investment in Ohio, behind Japan and Canada, and more than 750 German-owned businesses operate in the state, supporting around 41,000 jobs, according to a Columbus Regional Airport Authority press release cited by The Columbus Dispatch. The Dispatch noted that German pharmaceutical company Bayer Pharmaceuticals announced a new $2.2 billion manufacturing plant in New Albany just weeks before the nonstop was announced, and Simple Flying reported that the Columbus area is home to 38 German-based companies.

“For us locally, there’s no greater task than to develop a market from scratch. We’ve done this in the past a couple of times. And that’s why there’s a high level of excitement to make this happen now in Ohio because we know how much it means for the community, for the businesses, for the families to connect,” Dirk Janzen, Lufthansa’s vice president of passenger sales in the Americas, told The Columbus Dispatch.

The route is backed by JobsOhio’s Air Service Restoration program, in which JobsOhio and local partners guarantee revenue for new airline routes and repay the airline if revenue falls short of goals, Terry Slaybaugh, vice president of sites and infrastructure at JobsOhio, told The Columbus Dispatch. A JobsOhio spokesperson declined to tell The Columbus Dispatch how much money is being guaranteed, calling it confidential business information, and said the guarantee is funded by JobsOhio, the city of Columbus, Franklin County and the Columbus Partnership.

What we know — and what we’re still waiting on

What we know: the start date is May 5, 2027; the schedule is Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in both directions; the aircraft is a 287-seat Boeing 787-9; and tickets went on sale Oct. 20, according to the airport authority. What is not yet public is the size of the JobsOhio revenue guarantee, which JobsOhio has described to The Columbus Dispatch as confidential, and whether the three-times-weekly schedule could grow if the first season sells well — neither Lufthansa nor the airport authority has announced any expansion beyond the initial schedule.

The Columbus route was part of a broader Lufthansa long-haul expansion announced this month, and Simple Flying reported it will be the first scheduled long-haul passenger service in John Glenn Columbus’s history and the airport’s only widebody operation. With Cincinnati’s airport located across the state line in Kentucky, Ohio will have two airports with long-haul service once the route begins, joining Cleveland’s existing nonstop to Dublin. The launch also lands amid continued investment in the capital city, from OhioHealth taking naming rights for the Columbus NWSL club’s training grounds to the statewide business settlement that saw Ohio receive $8 million as GM settled claims it sold drivers’ data.

What happens next is the countdown to May 5, 2027. Travelers can book now through Lufthansa, and the airport authority said it will share more about the route, the Dreamliner and international travel preparation in the months ahead. Griffin told The Columbus Dispatch that if the route succeeds, it could open Columbus to further international routes: “We have momentum today and this really just adds to that where it really puts Columbus on the global stage.”

Photo: MarcelX42, CC BY-SA