New airline touches down at TPA, marking return of service from Germany since start of pandemic

TAMPA, Fla. - Eurowings Discover, a new leisure airline part of the Lufthansa Group, landed at Tampa International Airport Thursday, marking the first direct connection to the European Union since before the pandemic.

The Tampa to Frankfurt service will operate four times per week on an Airbus A330-200.

This is the second flight to restart the trans-Atlantic service since those flights were halted in March 2020. British Airways began its service to London-Gatwick in November.

Like BA’s route, Eurowings Discover is focused on leisure travel, but airline representatives say it also has a strong business product for those traveling for work.
"This flight that’s leaving tonight, it will connect to about 65 cities within a six-hour window in Frankfurt which provides great connectivity," said Alex Heiter, the director of research and air service development for Tampa International Airport. "So, not only people are going to Frankfurt but also connecting beyond to other points around the world." 

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In addition to Eurowings Discover’s connectivity, this route’s return is a huge economic booster for the Tampa Bay region.

"There is so much economic benefit of incoming tourism, for example, our beautiful beaches here, everything that the Tampa Bay region has to offer, really popular with German tourists and others connecting throughout Europe as well. So hundreds of millions of dollars of economic benefit and it’s all by virtue of his long-haul flights into TPA," Heiter said.

Edelweiss Airways is scheduled to return non-stop service to TPA from Zurich in March.

TPA currently has more flights now than it did before the pandemic -- most of which are domestic.