German national carrier Lufthansa has announced it will introduce a new non-stop link from its Munich International Airport hub to Vancouver, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada from summer 2013. The new daily service will be launched on May 16, 2013 and will complement the carrier’s existing daily link from Frankfurt to the growing metropolis on Canada's Pacific coast.

The route will not be new to the Star Alliance member as it previously flew between Munich and Vancouver between June 2004 and October 2004 using an Airbus A340-300. Since then Air Transat and LTU International Airways have also served the route but there have been no direct services since October 2007.

Lufthansa says the new flight will initially operate during the summer 2013 schedule only and flights will terminate from October 3, 2013. The airline will utilise an Airbus A330-300 on the route configured with 8 First Class, 48 Business Class and 165 Economy seats with a 10 hour 35 minute outbound flight and a 10 hour 15 minute return leg.

Vancouver - with a population of 2.3 million - is the largest city in Western Canada. A major centre for trade and commerce, it is also Canada's largest seaport and is home to the headquarters of many forestry and mining companies. Numerous IT companies have settled in the surrounding region. In addition, Vancouver is a popular tourist and holiday destination and boasts a wide range of sights and attractions.

“We are delighted to be able in future to offer our customers another destination in North America. Vancouver is an attractive destination, not only for business travellers, but also for holidaymakers,” said Thomas Klühr, member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board, Munich & Direct Services.

Next summer Lufthansa will offer non-stop flights to ten major cities in North America from its Munich base including the Canadian city of Montreal. Air Canada also provides a link between Munich and Toronto, while Air Transat also serves the route.

In 2011 an estimated 739,000 O&D passengers travelled between Germany and Canada with approximately 20,000 flying between Munich and Vancouver during the year despite no direct scheduled air services. Although there are notable flows via Lufthansa’s Frankfurt – Vancouver route (14 per cent) and with Air Canada via Toronto (18 per cent), it is interestingly British Airways that currently has the largest share of this traffic (22 per cent) via London Heathrow. This leakage to the rival oneworld alliance will partly explain why Lufthansa is adding the new flight.

This summer there were around 90 flights per week between Germany and Canada with over 25,000 seats available in each direction. In the table below we highlight the largest operators between the two countries during June 2012.