Lufthansa made headlines in Minnesota and raised eyebrows in Atlanta when it launched nonstop service from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Frankfurt (FRA) – the first major international carrier to penetrate Delta's Midwestern hub in many years. That new route won't even last a full year.
Airline schedules filed Monday show that Lufthansa will stop flying between Minneapolis and Frankfurt (FRA) effective April 29, 2025. Instead, Lufthansa confirmed it will hand the route over to its low-cost subsidiary Discover Airlines for the foreseeable future.
In an email to Thrifty Traveler, a Lufthansa spokesperson cited aircraft availability as the reason behind their decision to cede the route to a subsidiary. The airline simply doesn't have enough planes to keep running at 100% across the Atlantic.
Lufthansa intends to resume flying on its own between Germany and Minnesota sometime in fall 2026, Minneapolis airport officials told Thrifty Traveler. Time will tell if that happens.
Officials from the Minneapolis airport reiterated that Lufthansa's (temporary) exit from Minnesota is not a reflection of the route to Frankfurt's performance. Since beginning in early June, data from the aviation analytics company Cirium shows flights through July (the latest month for which numbers are available) were nearly 83% full – strong numbers for a brand-new route.
But like virtually every other airline on the planet, Lufthansa has been hamstrung by aircraft delivery delays from Airbus and especially Boeing. Lufthansa has been using a Boeing 787-9 to fly to and from Minneapolis since it launched.
Sacrifices have to be made to keep the airline running smoothly … and unfortunately for Midwesterners, Minneapolis wound up paying the price. Yet, as of publication, none of Lufthansa's other 20-plus routes from North America were affected in the schedule shakeup – not even the new route from Raleigh (RDU).
It's not all a loss for Minneapolis, as Discover will continue flying nonstop to Frankfurt from Minneapolis year-round once Lufthansa drops the route in late April 2025. So will fellow leisure carrier Condor, which has flown seasonally between the cities for years.
Still, that airline swap will be a downgrade for many travelers – and a potentially concerning sign for airlines willing to challenge Delta's dominance in Minneapolis down the line.
The difference between Lufthansa and Discover is most stark up in business class. While Discover offers lie-flat business class seats, they're arranged in a crowded 2-2-2 configuration, so not every passenger has direct aisle access. Compared to the excellent Lufthansa 787 business class seats , it's woefully outdated.
Bottom Line
Less than a year after starting service, Lufthansa will stop flying to Minneapolis next spring, ceding the route to its leisure subsidiary, Discover Airlines, due to an aircraft shortage.
Discover will continue to fly the route year-round from Minneapolis, and airport officials say the airline intends to resume flying between Minnesota and Germany on its own in fall 2026.
