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On March 30, many came to witness the inaugural flight of Lufthansa Airlines
under a water canon salute. Guests were treated to a
gate reception, followed by a performance by the
Seattle Children's Chorus and a press conference.
Among the crowd to
celebrate the remarkable event were Tay Yoshitani,
CEO of the Port of Seattle, soon-to-be-knighted by the king of
Spain Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen,
Port of Seattle Commission
President John Creighton, and Honorary Consul of
Germany, Petra Walker, to name a few.
“More than 50,000 travel between Seattle
and Frankfurt every year,” a beaming Creighton said.
“Germany
is the 3rd largest European travel
market.” Creighton also said that the new
service will certainly attract leisure travelers but
particularly businesses.
Only last year in June, Air France began daily non-stop
service between Seattle and Paris, adding to the
already existing non-stop flights to other European
destinations, such as Copenhagen via SAS, Amsterdam
via Northwest Airlines, and London via British
Airways.
The latest addition of the profitable
German airline to SeaTac’s direct international
flights has been the result of a long but successful
courtship by the port. Lufthansa’s decision to
service Seattle may also be accredited to the fact
that the port has either heavily discounted or
completely waived the first few years of fees that
international air carriers have to pay at SeaTac.
Lufthansa flight
LH 491 departs at 2:30
pm and arrives in Frankfurt at 9:25 am local time the
next day. The return flight, LH 490, leaves
Frankfurt at 11:20 am and arrives in Seattle at
12:35 pm local time the same day. The flights
operate daily.
Lufthansa is welcomed by the Port of Seattle's
firefighters
Lieutenant Governor
Brad Owen
All photos:
©
Martina Law
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