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Air Berlin is bankrupt, and operations are quickly winding down. First, the carrier announced plans to scrap all long-haul flights from Berlin, then it canceled my flight from Berlin, and, finally, confirmed that all intercontinental service would be discontinued on October 15.
Of course, even though the supply has been impacted significantly by these sudden capacity shifts, demand continues to be strong — despite the incredibly light load on my recent Dusseldorf flight. And Lufthansa is now adding service, boosting seats on domestic flights and launching new international routes as well.
First up is a new flight between New York-JFK and Berlin’s Tegel Airport (TXL), which launches November 8. The flight will be operated with an Airbus A330-300 with three cabins of service, including 42 lie-flat seats in business class, 28 large recliners in premium economy and 185 seats in coach. This nearly matches the capacity lost with the end of Air Berlin service.
Flights are scheduled as follows:
- LH407 New York (JFK) 10:20pm Departure ⇒ Berlin (TXL) 12:15pm (+1) Arrival
- LH406 Berlin (TXL) 5:35pm Departure ⇒ New York (JFK) 8:35pm Arrival
Unfortunately tickets don’t come cheap. For example, round-trip fares start at $1,180 in economy:
$1,725 in premium economy:
And $2,494 in business class — though only on select off-season dates.
As for awards, I’m seeing plenty of dates with availability in business class, which appear with a dotted line below:
I haven’t come across economy awards yet — although United’s nonstop from Newark has a fair amount of economy award space:
It’s great to see Lufthansa once again launch nonstop service between the German capital and New York, a route it last flew in 2001. The flight was just loaded, so it’s possible that we’ll see cash fares drop within the next few days. Even better, the carrier has already added in plenty of award space, even if there’s only business class available at the moment.
Will you be booking Lufthansa’s new flight to Berlin?
Featured image courtesy of RICOWde via Getty Images.
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