Summary The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved Lufthansa's application to add Thai Airways' flight code TG to its flights from/to the US. Initially, the German airline applied to add THAI's flight codes to flights to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). THAI does not directly serve the US.
The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has allowed Lufthansa to add Thai Airways’ (THAI) TG flight code to its flights from/to the US. THAI adding capacity to the US The DOT approved the codeshare flights to the US on August 9, publishing the filing on August 13. In the filing, the DOT detailed that Lufthansa would be able to add THAI’s flight code to its flights from the European Union (EU) to any point in the US.
Furthermore, the German carrier will be able to display the Thai airline’s between any point or points in the US, as well as any point or points in member countries of the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) According to the EU , in addition to Norway and Iceland, the ECAA consists of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo. The US government agency approved the use of THAI's flight code to carry passengers, cargo, and mail, which depended on the two airlines’ codeshare agreement. The group pointed out that its flagship airline, Lufthansa, had a particularly difficult six months in 2024.
Initial flights from/to Boston The DOT's ’s approval was granted on several conditions, including the fact that it will remain in effect as long as both carriers have the authority to operate the codeshare services and the agreement remains active. Another condition was that both or one of the airlines have to inform the Department if the codeshare was no longer in effect, with the requirement to notify the DOT within ten days. Furthermore, Lufthansa and THAI must inform the DOT 30 days before adding any new routes or frequencies, while the services also have to comply with any agreements between the US and foreign countries that are involved.
Lufthansa provided its application requesting blanket authority to display THAI’s flight codes on its itineraries on July 26. The application detailed that the German airline would display the TG flight code on flights from Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and Munich Airport (MUC) to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) . “Lufthansa requests a waiver of the 45-day advance filing requirement [.
..].
Lufthansa plans to display the TG* code on flights operated by Lufthansa immediately upon receipt of Department and other applicable governmental approvals. For this reason, Lufthansa requests expedited approval of this application.” As the aircraft was ascending over 10,000 ft in the air, the pilot reported a bird strike with high vibrations in one of the Airbus A340's engines.
Star Alliance connection According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium , THAI has no scheduled flights to any airports in the US between January 2024 and July 2025. The last time that THAI served the US directly was in October 2015. At the time, the carrier had a fifth freedom flight from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) via Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN), operating under TG692.
However, THAI has scheduled 21 weekly flights to Germany between August and December. 14 of those weekly itineraries are scheduled from BKK to FRA, while seven are from BKK to MUC. Meanwhile, Lufthansa, not including its leisure carrier Discover Airlines, has an extensive network of flights from FRA to MUC.
In August, the German airline has scheduled flights to 20 US destinations, including several Star Alliance hubs. Both Lufthansa and THAI are part of the alliance. Together with Air Canada, SAS, and THAI, the five airlines were the founding members of Star Alliance.
Starting November, only Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will receive Lufthansa's Airbus A380 aircraft..
