You might think that all of Lufthansa’s routes begin and end in Germany, but that’s not the case. There is one exception. Although only served on a time-limited basis, the Star Alliance member operated between London Heathrow and the Austrian city of Salzburg on an entirely standalone basis.

Following Brexit, the UK no longer has open skies with the EU. However, Lufthansa’s Austrian route is possible because UK-EU traffic rights remain liberal. Other examples illustrate this, especially relating to Ryanair, which uses its ‘FR’ IATA code and Irish-registered aircraft on numerous flights from UK airports to EU countries.

Lufthansa’s Heathrow-Salzburg Operation

Covering 569 nautical miles (1,054 km) each way, this is the German giant’s longest route from the UK’s busiest airport. The time-limited service began in winter 2023/2024 and has operated each winter since then.

Heathrow-Salzburg is fully separate from Lufthansa’s operations from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs. It is a standalone service. It is entirely unrelated to one-stop, same-plane, same-flight-number services, whether fifth-freedom traffic rights exist or not.

Salzburg is a well-known and popular market from the UK. According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, more than 421,000 round-trip passengers traveled last year, of which London had 337,000. Spread equally but unfairly over a year, London had 920+ daily passengers.

Austria’s second most populous city is particularly renowned for winter travel because of skiing, its mountainous location, and Christmas markets. More than this, it was the birthplace of Mozart, the location of the Sound of Music, and has a UNESCO heritage center. No wonder it is popular.

Lufthansa Only Operates Weekly

As in previous years, the carrier has a Saturday-only operation between Heathrow and Salzburg. Cirium Diio data shows that flights return on December 13, with 14 departures in winter 2025/2026 (double for both ways). While the 180-seat Airbus A320neo will primarily be used, the 215-seat A321neo will appear on February 14 and 21, which is driven by the higher demand due to Valentine’s Day. It will be among Salzburg’s highest-capacity aircraft.

When the route began in winter 2023/2024, 19 round-trips were available, reduced to 16 the following winter and 14 now. The decline is because of a shorter window. Flights now end on March 14, down from March 29 or March 30 in previous years. Unsurprisingly, the shorter period suggests the later performance was less good.

The aircraft and crew are based in Lufthansa’s Munich hub, with LH2472 arriving at Heathrow at 10:25 am local time. LH2673 will leave at 11:10 am and arrive in Austria at 2:00 pm local time. Returning, LH2676 will depart Salzburg at 2:50 pm and get back at 3:50 pm local time. LH2477 will then leave at 4:40 pm. Munich-Heathrow-Salzburg-Heathrow-Munich will operate on a so-called W basis.

Lufthansa Is Heathrow’s 6th Largest Airline

Based on December flights, Cirium shows that Lufthansa is Heathrow’s sixth-largest user. It has an average of 15 daily departures (double for both ways), although they vary from 11 to 17 daily. It operates from Frankfurt, Munich, and Salzburg.

Nearly all services use the A320neo, with the A321neo having just four departures. Widebodies were last used in 2009. Only these carriers have more flights: BA (an average of 327 daily departures), Virgin Atlantic (30), American (18), United (18), and Aer Lingus (17).

To gain a fairer picture, Eurowings, which is the short-haul low-cost carrier in the Lufthansa Group, should be included. It operates non-hub services to Heathrow for Lufthansa, with routes from Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Stuttgart (BA will end flights to two of these cities soon). Eurowings has an average of 12 daily departures from Heathrow. When added to Lufthansa’s offering, the pair is collectively the airport’s third-largest user.

On March 29, Eurowings will reintroduce flights from Berlin to Heathrow. Running 12 times a week, it’ll be the first time the Lufthansa Group has had flights from the German capital to Heathrow since 2019, when Eurowings pulled out. Before that, Germanwings and Lufthansa itself had served the market. At one point, four daily flights were available. BA will compete directly with Eurowings, just as it will with Lufthansa to Salzburg.