Lufthansa will temporarily stop flying from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany, and Discover Airlines will take over the route.
The handoff to Lufthansa’s leisure subsidiary is expected to happen in May 2025, and will come about a year after the Germany-based carrier entered the Twin Cities market and began offering service five days a week. Discover will fly four times a week with nonstop flights between the two cities on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
“We are fully integrated into the Lufthansa structure, thus, all travelers continue to benefit from seamless travels and multiple connection flights from our hub Frankfurt,” said Discover spokeswoman Leonie Bueb.
Officials at MSP said they have been informed of Lufthansa’s decision to shift operations to Discover Airlines, and that the move was not based on the route’s performance.
Lufthansa began operations at MSP on June 4 and that month flew more than 8,500 passengers between the Twin Cities and Germany. Numbers jumped to more than 11,500 in July and more than 10,000 in both August and September, according to figures from the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates MSP.
“The route is stable,” said MAC spokesman Jeff Lea.
Lea said the move is temporary and Lufthansa plans to resume operating the route in 2026
Lufthansa spokeswoman Christina Semmel said the carrier is farming the route out to Discover because it does not have enough planes to fly the route, and the airline has experienced delivery delays from manufacturers Airbus and Boeing.
