A new agreement between the EU and the USA means that airlines are now allowed to fly from any European airport directly to any American airport, whereas so far airlines were restricted to either starting or landing in their home country (thus allowing Air France to offer Düsseldorf-Paris-New York but not Düsseldorf-New York, for example). I hope that this will lead to cheaper airline tickets for those interested in visiting Germany!
Also be aware that within Europe cheap airlines are alive and well, meaning that you can easily find tickets going from one major European city to the other for 19 EUR plus taxes or the like.
