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As Delta Air Lines Inc. resumes flights to two German hubs this year, the fate of the longstanding nonstop flight to Stuttgart, the hometown of two auto giants with U.S. headquarters in Atlanta, remains unclear.
The Stuttgart flight was suspended in March 2020, early in the coronavirus pandemic, and has yet to return, even as flights to Frankfurt from Atlanta and New York have already started and the route to Munich — where Georgia operates its European investment office — is slated to resume in December.
A Delta Air Lines spokesperson said demand for the Stuttgart nonstop would be monitored, with a return possible when trends start looking up. The U.S. on Nov. 8 removed a ban on European travelers, opening up to vaccinated individuals with a negative COVID-19 test. Delta said Nov. 8 that international bookings are up 450 percent in the six weeks since that move was announced.
While Stuttgart is a smaller market than some others, the flight to the auto powerhouse in the state of Baden-Württemberg has been an important draw for German auto makers and suppliers. Porsche Cars North America’s executives have pointed to it as a key feather in Atlanta’s cap, especially during the nationwide search for a new headquarters building that landed the Porsche Experience Center next to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2014.
The flight has also been frequented by executives from Mercedes-Benz USA, which put its base in Sandy Springs in a high-profile move from New Jersey. The luxury car maker also operates the Lab1886 innovation center in Buckhead.
Meanwhile, Georgia continues to draw interest from German firms, the latest being Hamburg-based Aurubis, which is putting a secondary copper smelting facility in Augusta.
The Points Guy, the air travel website which broke the news that Stuttgart was cut from a route adjustment, pointed out that Delta still uses Porsche’s cars to ferry recently arrived Medallion members from the tarmac to the terminal in Atlanta.
Porsche in the mid-2010s was held up as an exemplar of the promise of airport-led economic development, its headquarters campus and test track a jewel in the crown of plans to develop an “aerotropolis.”
The office has largely been silent since the pandemic began, though reporters were recently invited for a test driving experience for the Taycan all-electric Porsche sedan. Gov. Brian Kemp, during a visit to the Porsche factory in Stuttgart in January 2020, was able to see the Taycan being manufactured. Now, Georgia is pushing an effort to woo companies from up and down the electric vehicle supply chain.