Lufthansa has announced plans to launch flights to St Louis in the US state of Missouri next year.

The new thrice-weekly service will represent the first direct, nonstop flights from Continental Europe to St Louis in around 20 years.

American Airlines previously operated flights to destinations including Paris and London but these were dropped in the early 2000s, and Wow Air briefly served St Louis from Reykjavik in 2018.

Located on the Mississippi River, St Louis is home to several Fortune 500 companies, and is also a hub for medicine and biotechnology.

The new route is part of Lufthansa’s plans for summer 2022, which will see it offer over 160 destinations from Frankfurt and Munich, with intra-European connections expected to approach 2019 levels with around 5,000 weekly flights.

From Munich the carrier will offer nonstop flights to Rio and San Diego for the first time, as well as new services to Kalamata, Menorca, Varna, Billund and Bergen.

Meanwhile from Frankfurt Lufthansa will add routes including Stavanger and Rennes, as well as the carrier’s first flights to Liverpool, as reported earlier this week.

Lufthansa to arrive at Liverpool

The carrier’s newly branded Eurowings Discover subsidiary will offer destinations including Punta Cana, Cancun and Las Vegas from Munich, as well as Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Fort Myers, Anchorage, Halifax, Calgary and Tampa Bay from Frankfurt.

lufthansa.com