How a Direct Flight to Frankurt Benefits St. Louis' Bosnians
How a Direct Flight to Frankurt Benefits St. Louis' Bosnians
You can now get to Sarajevo in about 12 hours via Lufthansa
For decades, the "international" in St. Louis Lambert International Airport had about as much meaning as the "I" in IHOP. While technically true, you wouldn't get the sense that St. Louis was a globally connected city based on its airport's daily departures and arrivals.
But that is starting to change. A new direct flight to Frankfurt, Germany, started last June, and a direct flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica, kicked off this past February.
For everyday St. Louisans, the new direct flights will make a vacation overseas much more appealing. For business leaders, the increased connectivity is a boon to the economy. But for many Bosnians and Bosnian-Americans living in St. Louis, the new routes are even more meaningful.
"They're a game changer," says Akif Cogo, president of St. Louis Bosnians Inc.
Previously, Cogo says, travelers flying from St. Louis to Sarajevo, Bosnia, faced at least 17 hours of flights and layovers. In actuality, though, a layover in the U.S. and another in Europe added up to a journey that almost always took longer than that estimate.
Now, three times a week, Bosnian- Americans living in St. Louis — as well as anyone else living in St. Louis — can get to Bosnia in about 12 hours via Lufthansa.
The route also brings minimal jet lag because it leaves St. Louis in the late afternoon and, after a connection in Frankfurt, lands the morning of the next day.
And while a lot of the travel from St. Louis to Sarajevo is business-related, Cogo says much of it is "a little different type of tourism." Read more here.