The Lufthansa Group is reducing its summer flight schedule by nearly one percent in available seat kilometres (ASK), citing soaring jet fuel prices and a strategic shift to consolidate its European network.
The move will see 20,000 short-haul flights cancelled through October, saving over 40,000 metric tons of fuel, a response to fuel costs that have doubled since the escalation of the Iran conflict.
Route reductions and hub adjustments
The cuts primarily target unprofitable short-haul routes, with immediate cancellations affecting 120 daily flights until 31 May. Passengers on these routes have already been notified.
Three destinations – Bydgoszcz and Rzeszów in Poland, and Stavanger in Norway – have been temporarily removed from Frankfurt Airport’s (FRA, Germany) schedule. An additional ten routes, previously served from Frankfurt and Munich (MUC, Bavaria), will now be consolidated through the group’s other hubs: Heringsdorf (HDF, Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania), Cork (ORK, Ireland), Gdańsk (GDN, Pomeranian Voivodeship), Ljubljana (LJU, Slovenia), Rijeka (RJK, Croatia), Sibiu (SBZ, Romania), Stuttgart (STR, Baden-Württemberg), Trondheim (TRD, Trøndelag), Tivat (TIV, Montenegro), and Wrocław (WRO, Lower Silesia).
The group’s six hubs, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich (ZRH, Switzerland), Vienna (VIE, Austria), Brussels (BRU, Belgium), and Rome (FCO, Italy), will continue to offer global connectivity, particularly for long-haul flights, but with improved efficiency.
Strategic consolidation and fuel security
Lufthansa is accelerating the integration of its European network under its main airlines: Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and ITA Airways. The revised summer schedule, including further optimisations, will be published in late April or early May.
Despite the reductions, the group assures that fuel supply for the summer timetable remains secure, thanks to physical procurement and price hedging strategies. The adjustments aim to stabilise operations while mitigating the impact of volatile fuel costs.
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