Lufthansa is gearing up for a landmark summer in 2026, rolling out a significantly expanded schedule that ties key European hubs more closely to secondary cities and high‑growth leisure markets worldwide. New and reinforced links to Trondheim, St. Louis, São Paulo, Johannesburg, Kilimanjaro and Windhoek sit at the heart of the strategy, which Lufthansa Group says will deliver its biggest network in history, with more than 14,000 weekly flights to around 330 destinations in roughly 100 countries. For travelers, that translates into more nonstop options, better connection banks and a broader mix of business and holiday routes than ever before.
A Record-Breaking Summer 2026 for Lufthansa Group
Lufthansa Group has already opened bookings for its 2026 summer timetable, which will run from late March through the end of October and is designed to capture both resurgent corporate demand and robust appetite for long‑haul leisure travel. Group carriers, including Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines and ITA Airways, are collectively planning more frequencies across Europe, North America, Africa and South America, alongside a select number of brand‑new destinations.
Within that broader group plan, Lufthansa’s own schedule from Frankfurt and Munich is where many of the most eye‑catching changes lie. The German flag carrier is doubling down on transatlantic services, reinforcing Africa links and adding capacity to northern Europe. New or beefed‑up routes such as Frankfurt to Trondheim and Frankfurt to St. Louis, as well as sustained long‑haul offerings to Johannesburg and São Paulo, are being positioned as proof that demand is strong well beyond primary gateways like New York or London.
The summer 2026 network also reflects how Lufthansa is using its joint ventures and leisure affiliates to fine‑tune capacity. Discover Airlines and Edelweiss, for example, are being deployed on selected African leisure routes, allowing the mainline brand to concentrate widebody aircraft where premium demand is strongest. At the same time, codeshares within the group will help stitch together thinner points, making remote destinations accessible from more European cities with a single ticket.
Trondheim: Strengthening the Nordic Corridor
Among the most notable additions on the European side is Trondheim, which will join Lufthansa’s mainline schedule from Frankfurt on 1 May 2026. The airline plans four weekly flights on the new route, complementing existing Trondheim service from Munich and effectively giving Norway’s third‑largest city at least one daily connection to Germany. The launch is a response to sustained growth in Nordic demand, both from leisure travelers drawn to fjord landscapes and from business passengers tied to technology, energy and education sectors based in the region.
For North American and Asian travelers in particular, the new Frankfurt link significantly improves access to central Norway. Frankfurt’s role as Lufthansa’s biggest intercontinental hub means passengers from markets such as Chicago, Toronto, Delhi or Singapore will be able to connect to Trondheim with relatively short layovers and through‑checked baggage. This should prove attractive to tour operators putting together multi‑country Scandinavia itineraries as well as independent travelers seeking to combine a major European city break with time outdoors.
The Nordic expansion is not limited to Trondheim alone. Lufthansa has flagged broader growth across its Scandinavian network for summer 2026, with additional capacity planned on routes to cities like Bergen and Stavanger. Taken together, these moves underscore how the airline is shifting part of its European growth focus away from traditional sun destinations to higher‑yield northern markets where demand is less seasonal and corporate traffic is deeper.
St. Louis: A Rising Transatlantic Player in the Midwest
Across the Atlantic, St. Louis is set to become a more prominent point in Lufthansa’s US portfolio. Having launched Frankfurt to St. Louis as a three times weekly service in 2022, the airline intends to raise frequencies to five flights per week at the height of the northern‑summer season in 2026. Schedule filings indicate the route will continue to be operated with an Airbus A330‑300, offering a full complement of business, premium economy and economy cabins and maintaining the airport’s only nonstop link to Europe.
The decision to step up capacity follows steady performance on the route, fueled by both business ties and diaspora traffic in the broader Missouri and southern Illinois region. St. Louis has been leveraging the Lufthansa connection to attract investment and tourism, marketing itself as a convenient one‑stop gateway for travelers heading to or from secondary European and African cities served via Frankfurt. By increasing weekly frequencies, Lufthansa is aiming to improve schedule flexibility, particularly for corporate travelers who need more choice on departure days.
Travelers should be aware that the build‑up to higher frequencies in summer 2026 comes alongside a brief seasonal pause earlier in the year. Lufthansa has filed a temporary suspension of the Frankfurt to St. Louis route for roughly one month in late winter 2026 to accommodate aircraft rotations and lower seasonal demand, with flights resuming ahead of the summer timetable. Aviation analysts note that this type of short‑term adjustment is common and does not signal a retreat from the market, especially given the planned increase in flights from June onward.
São Paulo and Johannesburg: Long-Haul Workhorses Get More Support
Lufthansa’s summer 2026 schedule also places renewed emphasis on long‑haul trunk routes that have historically been among the airline’s best performers. São Paulo and Johannesburg are both being highlighted as key pillars in the network, supporting flows of business travelers, friends and relatives traffic and high‑end leisure demand. The airline’s first class and premium cabins have seen strong uptake on these sectors, a trend Lufthansa expects to persist into the middle of the decade.
In South America, São Paulo remains one of Lufthansa’s primary gateways, feeding traffic not only between Brazil and Germany but also to onward destinations across Europe, India and the Middle East. The route is supported by a mix of corporate contracts, particularly in automotive, chemicals and agribusiness, and by Brazil’s sizable European diaspora. With capacity constrained at times over the past few years, the airline is using the 2026 summer to optimize schedules and maintain competitive travel times against other European network carriers.
Johannesburg performs a similar role for southern Africa, anchoring Lufthansa’s presence alongside Cape Town and connecting into a region where corporate, mining and tourism flows remain resilient. The carrier has indicated that its Munich to Johannesburg service, which in some seasons has been operated only in winter, will continue into summer 2026, creating a year‑round dual‑hub presence in the South African market. This continuity should improve planning for business travelers and tour operators who need stable inventory throughout the year rather than just during peak months.
Kilimanjaro: Tapping High-Growth Adventure and Safari Demand
One of the most eye‑catching elements of the broader Lufthansa Group summer strategy is the emphasis on classic safari and adventure destinations. Kilimanjaro, served via the airport that acts as a gateway to northern Tanzania and popular climbing routes up Africa’s highest peak, is being positioned as a growth market for the group’s leisure airlines. Discover Airlines already operates services to Kilimanjaro under Lufthansa codes, and the 2026 summer schedule points to a continuation of group capacity into the region around the main European holiday period.
The rationale is clear. Demand for so‑called once‑in‑a‑lifetime trips, including summit attempts on Kilimanjaro and extended safaris in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, has surged since pandemic travel restrictions eased. European and North American travelers in particular are showing a willingness to invest in long‑haul adventure travel, especially when it can be booked as part of a single itinerary with reputable carriers. By offering through‑fares from cities across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and beyond onto a Kilimanjaro flight, Lufthansa Group aims to capture more of that high‑value demand.
For travelers, the inclusion of Kilimanjaro within a major European network’s scheduled offering means easier logistics. Instead of stitching together multiple regional carriers, passengers can typically check bags through from their origin to their final African destination, earn and redeem frequent‑flyer miles, and rely on standard alliance protections in the event of disruptions. That consistency is a major selling point for upscale safari operators packaging air and ground components together.
Windhoek and Southern Africa: Leisure Capacity Gets a Lift
Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, is another beneficiary of Lufthansa Group’s southern Africa focus for summer 2026. While Lufthansa itself concentrates on key South African points from Frankfurt, group leisure carrier Edelweiss is stepping in to launch twice weekly flights between Zurich and Windhoek in June, adding fresh capacity into a destination that has seen steadily rising international interest. The move dovetails with an extended Edelweiss season to Cape Town, giving travelers more options to combine South Africa and Namibia in a single trip.
From a network planning perspective, the Zurich to Windhoek service allows Lufthansa Group to plug a geographic gap in its southern African map without deploying additional Frankfurt or Munich widebodies. Instead, the group can leverage Edelweiss’s holiday‑focused business model and its strong Swiss customer base, while still selling the route through Lufthansa’s distribution channels. Passengers from Germany and other European countries will be able to connect through Zurich with relatively short transfer times.
For Namibia’s tourism industry, the added flights are significant. Windhoek serves as the primary entry point for itineraries that include the Namib Desert, Etosha National Park and the Skeleton Coast, all of which have grown in popularity with European travelers seeking lower‑density nature experiences. Additional nonstop capacity from a major European hub should make it easier for tour companies to secure blocks of seats during the busy months and could encourage more first‑time visitors to consider Namibia alongside more established safari destinations.
What This Means for Travelers and the Competitive Landscape
Beyond the headline destinations, Lufthansa’s summer 2026 schedule offers some clear signals about where the airline sees growth and how it intends to compete. The deepening of secondary long‑haul routes such as St. Louis, the reinforcement of strongholds like São Paulo and Johannesburg, and the targeted push into high‑yield leisure markets around Kilimanjaro and Windhoek all point to a strategy that mixes careful risk‑taking with an emphasis on network breadth. Rather than chasing volume purely through mega‑cities, Lufthansa is stitching together a web of medium‑sized markets with enough premium and leisure demand to sustain year‑round or seasonally robust service.
For travelers based in Europe, North America or southern Africa, the practical takeaway is greater choice and, in many cases, better connectivity. New and increased frequencies open up more options for short‑stay business trips, flexible holiday durations and smoother one‑stop journeys to places that previously required multiple carriers. The group’s continued investment in cabin upgrades and digital services, particularly on its widebody fleet, means that added capacity is being paired with product improvements, including next‑generation business‑class seats on selected aircraft.
At the same time, the schedule underscores how competitive the long‑haul market will be heading into the middle of the decade. Rival European network carriers are also expanding in North America, Africa and South America, while Gulf and African airlines are vying aggressively for connecting traffic. Lufthansa’s decision to lean on joint ventures and leisure subsidiaries, while reinforcing hubs like Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich, reflects a belief that a tightly integrated multi‑brand network can still hold its own. Summer 2026 will be a critical test of that proposition, and early booking trends for the new Trondheim, St. Louis, Kilimanjaro and Windhoek services will be closely watched across the industry.