Routes: Lufthansa to Seattle, United to Guangzhou

Among new route announcements last week, Lufthansa will add Seattle as a gateway and United set a starting date for its newly authorized China route. United said it will start flying between San Francisco and Guangzhou on June 18, 2008, the carrier’s third destination in China. United will use a three-class 777 for the daily non-stops, a flight of more than 14 hours westbound. United noted that China-bound passengers will be able to benefit from code-shares with Air China and Shanghai Airlines, both of which are expected to become full members of United’s Star Alliance later this year.

Lufthansa, meanwhile, set a March 30 launch for new daily non-stops between Seattle and its Frankfurt hub, making Sea-Tac the airline’s 18th U.S. gateway. Last month, Lufthansa started service from Orlando. The German carrier, also a Star Alliance member, will use a three-class Airbus A330-300 on the route. From Frankfurt, Lufthansa offers online connections to 135 destinations in Europe, Asia, the Mideast and Africa. Lufthansa also announced another new North American gateway last week – Calgary, Alberta, with plans to begin daily non-stops to Frankfurt in April 2008, also with an A330-300. More new service to Germany is coming via Canada as well. On June 1, 2008, Star Alliance partner Air Canada will kick off daily non-stops between Ottawa and Frankfurt; and on May 1, 2008, Lufthansa will begin seasonal daily service between Toronto and Dusseldorf, continuing through October.