Austin flights to Europe on rise
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is quickly scoring direct flights to Europe, adding routes to Amsterdam and Paris next year on top of recently launched service to Frankfurt.
The additions are striking. Austin landed its first direct service to Europe, a British Airways flight to London, just shy of six years ago. By next May, travelers will board four flights a day to Europe.
Convincing British Airways that the Austin market could support the trans-Atlantic service was a multiyear effort, said Kevin Schorr, vice president of Campbell-Hill Aviation, which AustinBergstrom officials hired to help convince an airline to start European service.
“There’s no question — getting that first route is always the hardest,” he said.
In 2016, two years after British Airways started its Austin-to-London
route, Condor Airlines began offering seasonal service to Frankfurt.
In 2018, the competition among international carriers heated up in Austin.
Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air added three-day-a-week service to London, competing with British Airways on that route. Meanwhile, German flagship carrier Lufthansa announced round-trip service from Austin to Frankfurt five days a week, start
ing last spring.
Condor pulled out, deciding not to resume seasonal service for 2019 in light of the competition from bigger Lufthansa.
Dutch airline KLM arrived next. Three months ago, it announced that it would begin service from Austin to Amsterdam three days a week next May 4. CEO Peter Elbers said KLM would cancel routes in its long-haul international network to free up gates at Amsterdam’s crowded Schiphol Airport for flights from Austin.
The announcements have continued. Two months ago, Norwegian Air said it will add a seasonal flight from Austin to Paris starting May 6 and increase its London service to four days a week.
Norwegian Airlines spokesman Anders Lindstrom said the airline is also considering launching service from Austin to Barcelona or Rome in 2021.
British invasion
British Airways’ initial success with its London flight helped set the stage for the additional routes, Schorr said.
“British Airways taking that first step into the market really helped prove the market for everyone else that was looking at it,” he said.
British Airways started five-daya-week service in March 2014 on a smaller trans-Atlantic plane, the Boeing 787, with only 214 seats. Two months later, the airline expanded to seven-day-a-week service and added planes with greater seating capacity.
“It really is a testament to the strength of the market and British Airways’ (financial) performance,” Schorr said. “One of the greatest ways to get air service is to have someone else announce or start air service.”
Lindstrom said Norwegian picked Austin for European service after analyzing all airport opportunities in the U.S. He said the airline “saw that Austin was an overpriced market with limited European service, but with great demand, both from the U.S. and among Europeans.”
The booming Austin economy has clearly spurred European air travel, boosted by tech companies including Apple and Dell, which does major business in Europe.
“Austin has the advantages of tech business,” said Joe Brancatelli, who runs the business travel website Joe Sent Me.
Schorr said tech companies initially planted the seeds for the Austin-to-Europe service, but the diversification of the Austin economy has brought other industries from around the world into Central Texas.
European visitor interest is also up, he said.
‘Intriguing destination’
Austin has become much more of a tourist destination over the last decade, piquing the interest of tourists from Europe. “They know about South by Southwest, they know about barbecue — and these are things we didn’t see as regularly about 10 years ago,” Schorr said.
Lindstrom said Norwegian is resuming London flights earlier next year, on March 3, to capture visitors from Europe to South by Southwest, which starts March 13.
“South by Southwest has grown to become a large global event that attracts thousands of international visitors,” he said.
Austin is an intriguing destination for young, affluent European travelers, said Sharon Garcia, a San Antonio resident who worked in the travel industry for several decades. “Austin is not just a secondary city anymore,” she said. “It has become a music capital and has a booming art and culture scene.”
The European flights aren’t the only routes growing at Austin Bergstrom. The airport over the last several years has seen one of the strongest passenger growth rates of all U.S. airports, said Gary Leff, an Austin resident who writes the blog “View From the Wing.”
“Planes are simply full,” he said. “Airlines are making money, so they add more service when they’re making money.”
For the 12-month period ending Oct. 31, the Austin airport saw around 17 million passengers, up from 10 million before the British Airways flight launched five years ago.
New flights at Austin aren’t limited to European service. Brancatelli said American Airlines and Jet Blue are adding Austin-to-Boston nonstops. They’re competing with Delta Air Lines, which has named Austin a focus city, adding more domestic flights.