92 Percent of all Germans have never been to New York

91.9 percent, or about 64.6 million Germans above the age of 14, have never been to New York. Or, to put it in other terms, approximately eight percent or about 5.7 million Germans have already visited the legendary American metropolis. These are the results of a representative survey carried out by the market and opinion research company GfK on behalf of Lufthansa. The airline contracted GfK to implement the survey within the context of a transnational Facebook campaign of the Lufthansa Group for Germany and Austria. 1,000 Germans and 500 Austrians were interviewed.

The disparities with respect to the regional distribution in Germany are striking. In particular, people from Berlin (about 16% of the city’s inhabitants) and inhabitants from North Rhine-Westphalia (13.5%) have already been to New York once, whereas a far lower percentage of citizens in other federal states (only 2% to 8%) have been to this city on the East Coast of the USA. Furthermore, people above their Fifties (25%) as well as individuals with a high school diploma or a higher level of education (30%) have already traveled to New York.  

In comparison to Austria, only a smaller number of Germans have been to the ‘Big Apple’. After all, 18 percent of Austrians have already traveled to New York. This means that Germany’s neighbor has a higher affinity to New York.

The Lufthansa Group (Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS) links seven European cities with a total of 20 North American destinations.  Passengers can choose from twelve daily flights to New York from the European airports of Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Munich, Vienna and Zurich. This summer Lufthansa alone is taking of in Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf to two airports of New York – John-F.-Kennedy and Newark. On the route between Frankfurt and New York passengers can also fly on the Airbus A380. Starting on July 2, 2014, the number of flight connections will be increased from 12 to 13 each day, due to the fact that Austrian Airlines will also fly to Newark, the second international New York airport.

Looking at the United States overall, a total of more than 20,000 passengers fly from Europe to the USA on about 47 flights every day. In addition, 4,700 tons of freight are transported each day across the ocean, corresponding to 1.72 million tons annually. Lufthansa is the leading European airline group when it comes to flight connections across the North Atlantic. The Group employs 1,518 people in the USA, and 120,000 employees worldwide.