Finnair planes will fly to Tampa this summer ... for Lufthansa

Bernadette Berdychowski, Tampa Bay Times
·2 min read

Finnair is coming to Tampa, temporarily.

Starting Tuesday, Finland’s national airline will fly on behalf of Lufthansa’s Eurowings Discover route between Tampa and Frankfurt over the summer, Tampa International Airport announced.

Eurowings Discover and Finnair are in a wet-lease agreement that allows the newer Lufthansa brand to use Finnair’s aircraft and crew. Lufthansa’s younger and more leisure-focused brand will lean on Finnair to help with its smaller fleet and staff numbers as Tampa International Airport expects its busiest summer yet.

Lufthansa launched Eurowings Discover in the U.S. last year with the Tampa-Frankfurt route and has since expanded flights to the European Union out of Nevada and Salt Lake City. The launch marked the first nonstop service between mainland Europe and Tampa since the pandemic began. Now the airport is bracing for its first summer after COVID-19 where travelers can go from Europe or Canada to Tampa, projecting some days could have more than 70,000 domestic and international passengers going through the terminals.

Florida skies also have gotten more crowded recently from the pent-up travel demand and the boom of private space flights. Staffing issues at Jacksonville’s federal air traffic control center have caused delays and cancellations nationwide, causing many airlines to reevaluate their summer plans.

The Finnair arrangement is meant to help Eurowings Disc

over meet demand and have reliable service, Tampa airport officials said.

Eurowings Discover is leasing three of Finnair’s A350 planes until the end of October and will be Tampa International’s first scheduled service of A350 flights. The only other time an A350 was at the airport was for a Delta flight chartered by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The planes will keep Finnair’s marking on the outside but travelers will have the same Eurowings Discover options for food and beverages, onboard shopping and in-flight entertainment. Finnair crew members will serve on the flights. Eurowings Discover’s flight number will not change for the route service, which is five times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.