Sky Harbor is getting a new direct flight to Europe. Currently, the only direct flight between Phoenix and Europe is a British Airlines flight with service to London. Condor will begin offering nonstop service to Frankfurt Airport.

The service will begin on May 18,  2018 and the cheapest fares will cost approximately $780 round trip. This isn’t the first time Phoenix has had a direct connection with Europe; in 2001 Lufthansa offered direct service to Frankfurt. The route was ended only two years later because of lack of profitability. 

Condor is the third largest German airline after Lufthansa and Air Berlin. It’s a subsidiary of the British Thomas Cook Group, and it partners with the Star Alliance Miles and More program. Condor is designed as a leisure airline, with its primary focus on transporting travellers to vacation destinations. Condor’s home base is Frankfurt Airport and it operates out of 13 U.S. Cities.

In order to entice Condor into offering its new Phoenix-Frankfurt service, Sky Harbor has agreed to waive fees to decrease some of Condor’s airport costs. According to Sky Harbor, this is standard procedure for airports when trying to attract airlines to certain airports. The fees will be paid for by airport revenues; taxes will not be used to pay for the Condor fee offset.

It’s estimated that the flight between London and Phoenix adds $100 million dollars to the Phoenix economy every year. Phoenix doesn’t have as many international flights because of its proximity to LAX in Los Angeles, and it’s much easier for an airline to fly passengers from Phoenix to LAX and then to international destinations. As Phoenix grows, and the demand and number of international travelers increases, more direct international flights will be offered.