OREANDA-NEWS. Featuring 104 passenger airlines offering direct flights to 297 destinations in 104 countries per week, Frankfurt Airport's (FRA) new Summer Timetable 2015 will begin on Sunday, March 29, in tandem with the changeover to daylight saving time in Germany. On intercontinental routes, FRA boasts direct connections to 141 destinations, thus underscoring its importance as a leading international hub in global aviation. The total number of seats available at the FRA will increase by 2.4 percent to 820,000 seats per week - by even 3.0 percent to 290,000 seats per week in the important intercontinental segment.

In particular, destinations in the U.S are becoming increasingly popular. FRA-based leisure carrier Condor will add two new U.S. destinations to its network in the 2015 summer schedule. From June 18, Condor will be offering a twice-weekly service to Providence (PVD), the capital of Rhode Island in the New England states of the U.S. Starting June 19, Condor will also fly twice a week to the U.S. West Coast city of Portland (PDX), Oregon. Lufthansa will also expand its U.S. route network by launching a five-times weekly service to Tampa (TPA), Florida, on September 25.

FRA's European route network will be boosted by a total of five new destinations in the new summer schedule. Lufthansa will be flying twice daily to Aalborg (AAL) in the north of Denmark and four-times weekly to Bydgoszcz (BZG), Poland, as well as three times weekly to Seville (SVQ), in southern Spain's Andalusia region. The U.K. carrier BMI Regional will continue its services from Frankfurt to Karlstad (KSD) - adding a stopover in Jonkoping (JKG), both cities in Sweden. For the first time since 2006, Lufthansa will fly to Cagliari (CAG) on the Italian island of Sardinia, beginning May 2.

Three existing routes will see expanded services offered by more airlines. Miami (MIA) in Florida will also be served by American Airlines on a daily basis (from May 15), complementing the Lufthansa daily flight. Two other existing routes will be bolstered by new Lufthansa services. On May 2, Lufthansa will launch its thrice weekly service to Reykjavik (KEF), the capital city of Iceland, while the popular Turkish resort of Bodrum (BJV) will also be served by a once-weekly Lufthansa flight, starting from May 16.

Condor will continue its twice-weekly service from Frankfurt to Windhoek (WDH), Namibia in southern Africa, launched in November 2014. Also Air Namibia's FRA-WDH route will continue to be served six/seven times per week.

The FRA Summer Timetable 2015 will also see higher frequencies on a number of popular routes. Lufthansa will raise the number of flights from five to seven per week to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta (CGK), via Kuala Lumpur (KUL) in Malaysia. BMI Regional will increase services to Bristol (BRS) in the U.K. from 11 to 17 times per week. Milan-Linate (LIN) in Italy will be served by Lufthansa six times daily, up from five. Services to Istanbul will markedly increase compared to the previous summer timetable - from 66 to 88 flights per week - with Turkish Airlines offering up to seven daily flights, Lufthansa three flights per day and Pegasus Airlines up to two daily flights to the Turkish metropolis.

The trend towards airlines deploying new aircraft types - larger, more efficient, and noticeably quieter (eg., Airbus A380, Boeing B747-8, or Airbus A350) - will continue throughout the summer schedule. An average of 179 passenger seats per flight will be available via FR, two more compared to the 2014 summer schedule. Despite the 2.4 percent increase in total seats being offered, the number of flight departures scheduled per week via FRA will rise only moderately by 1.2 percent - reflecting the deployment of larger aircraft.