The Lufthansa Group, comprised of Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines, plan to cancel 33.000 flights from mid-January to February, or 10% of its total flight plan, due to a sharp decline in bookings as a result of the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19. It is also struggling with pilots off sick. Although the Group’s airlines will reduce frequencies on almost all routes to the former Yugoslavia, nine will be temporarily suspended altogether. “Above all we are missing passengers in our home markets of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, because these countries have been hardest hit by the pandemic”, CEO, Carsten Spohr, said.
The bulk of the route suspensions will be implemented by low cost carrier Eurowings. The airline will temporarily halt operations from Zagreb to Stuttgart (until February 7) and Dusseldorf (until March 1), while its Cologne operations will continue to be maintained with a reduced schedule. From Split, flights to Cologne (until February 4) and Stuttgart (until February 13) are also suspended, although services from Dusseldorf will continue to run, albeit once per week. From Sarajevo, the airline is temporarily ending all its flights - to Cologne (until February 8) and Stuttgart (February 15). In addition, the budget airline’s sole route from Belgrade to Stuttgart will be suspended until March 4. Eurowings’ base in Pristina will be mostly unscathed, will all of its eight routes to remain operational throughout the winter.
Swiss International Air Lines will suspend operations from Zurich to Sarajevo starting mid-January until February 14 and reduce flights to Ljubljana. Furthermore, Brussels Airlines will halt services from its hub to the Slovenian capital until March 11, while Lufthansa will reduce frequencies to Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo. On the other hand, Austrian will reduce its frequencies to Skopje. The Group has warned the suspensions and frequency reductions could be extended past mid-February once its revises its flight program for the remainder of the winter season, which runs until the last Sunday in March.
Seems like Eurowings is most affected. What a shame.
ReplyDeleteThey are the most reliable of the lot anyway.
DeleteMost LCC have become increasingly unreliable in recent times. Scheduling new routes and then cancelling them.
DeleteFebruary will be dire for all airports. It is already the quietest month anyway.
ReplyDeleteSecond half of January is not looking much better either.
DeleteIt will be bad all the way up until the start of the summer season.
DeleteDespite all these cancellations, the situation is still better than last year.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI wonder to what extent FR affected LH Group in Zagreb. Seems like there were more seats put on sale than there are passengers. All of this is caused by government hysteria in the West which is insisting on lockdowns and restrictions which are obviously ineffective.
ReplyDeleteLook at Denmark and Israel. Both prided themselves with high vaccination rates and claimed victory over this flu only to rush with reinstating many restrictions.
The only thing these two countries have been victorious in is being the first to introduce restrictions. Remember it was Denmark that was the first European country to close its borders to the rest of Europe.
DeleteTrue
Deletewow things are getting bad
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that LH was always reducing FRA-BEG by decreasing it from 14 to 7 weekly between middle of January until middle of February. Each year.
ReplyDeleteSo I am not sure it has to do anything in this case with current situation.
Shame about SJJ especially considering its overall connectivity.
ReplyDeleteThere is still Austrian and Lufthansa. Swiss was the weakest of the three considering they just started flights to Sarajevo last summer.
DeleteWill LH ever reinstate flights from Munich to Ljubljana?
ReplyDeleteFrom the end of March.
DeleteIf they don't move it again...
DeleteDo they plan to bring back Munich-Sarajevo? Or has it been permanently replaced with Frankfurt?
DeleteThose flights will never happen again...
DeleteMUC-SJJ has been terminated and replaced with FRA-SJJ.
DeleteMuc-Sjj will be double daily from end of March.
DeleteSomething tells me that will be modified closer to the end of March.
DeleteSo much for the LH Group
ReplyDeleteWhat were they supposed to do? Keep flying empty?
DeleteThey are doing what every profit oriented business should be doing.
DeleteI think they could have flown empty if they wished to because there is no way in Hell Germany would ever let Lufthansa go bankrupt. We've seen how much protectionism they enjoyed just ahead of AB's collapse. From what I remember AB met the criteria for their AOC to be suspended by the German government but they did nothing as LH was still not ready to absorb their share of the market.
DeleteImagine the economic implication of Lufthansa's collapse and the billions Germany would lose. Not to mention the financial disaster that would be caused by the loss of transfer passengers.
LH have paid back all of their state aid ahead of schedule. They're doing alright, just focusing on profitable routes and regions.
DeleteReturning state aid ahead of schedule has come at a big price to passenger comfort and convenience.
DeleteNot good.
ReplyDeleteSo how many reductions does Ljubljana have in the end? Any additions at all?
ReplyDeleteCompared to last January there are a lot of additions. Last January only LH, JU and TK were flying to Ljubljana.
DeleteBut compared to other airports LJU is again with the lowest progress..
DeleteThanks. Do you know what Fraport have expected as rough numbers for Ljubljana for 2022?
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/12/ljubljana-airport-targets-900000.html
Delete900,000
In the end there will be like 400-450k.
DeleteLet's wait and see. It is still early days.
DeleteI hope these do actually resume.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they will. Eurowings has a few new routes planned for ex-Yu markets over the summer.
DeleteI believe this will stay limited until the middle of February as in other countries Omicron wave has tended to last a month before sharp decline in cases. The issue is, in Europe, majority of cases in most countries are still from the delta strain, not omicron.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed.
DeleteIn that case we should have a very busy summer.
DeleteIt seems the LCCs are most affected: Ryanair, Wizz Air, Eurowings.
ReplyDeleteI guess they are the ones that are most careful with their finances. That's why they are the most successful.
Delete@9.19 don't forget easyjet as well.
DeleteMakes sense considering the lockdowns across Europe.
ReplyDeleteThese suspensions every other day are getting ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteMore to come.
DeleteThis is great news for Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteHow exactly?
DeleteWell they have actually increased Munich in response.
DeleteSo much for the LH Group in LJU and all the love and affection they got from some celebrating Adria's bankruptcy on here.
ReplyDeleteIt is just one airline suspending flights for a month and a half. You make it sounds as if all are packing up and leaving.
DeleteIt's not just Brussels but everyone is reducing flights. LH goes from 14 to 12 weekly, Swiss is down from 4 to 3.
Delete@09:28
Deleteyou sound like that even with that few flights of SN everything was just perfect at LJU.
Just to remind you that LJU is on 23% of pre-pandemic traffic, and despite of fact that Slovenia had less restrictions than other ex-yu countries and was running presidency of EU.
So even if they return with 3 flights per day situation will not change significantly...
Damn corona
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a long winter.
DeleteJanuary and February will pass, they are always slower months when very few airlines actually made money. It would be surreal to expect airlines to boost flights this year during that period.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think spring and summer will be really good as people in general are tired of restrictions and they will look to travel where they can. When it comes to Serbia, many traditionally strong markets are open (Turkey, Egypt, Spain, Dubai, Greece ...) so airlines are already presenting their offer for that period.
For Lufthansa Group in Belgrade, their main problem is that very few of these traditionally strong markets can be served via their hubs. On top of that, this winter they have to deal with an aggressive KL. With overnight flights to BEG, AMS has become as competitive as FRA, MUC or VIE in terms of transfer options.
As if KL wasn't enough, LH to/from FRA now has Wizz Air to think about which will create more competition for the massive gasto market around Frankfurt.
I think that's one of the reasons why EW is trying to break through the JU-W6 barrier that's keeping them out of the Serbia-Germany market. So far it seems like they did ok in STR, remains to be seen how they perform on DUS-BEG.
I still think they should have considered PMI-BEG for summer 2022. Palma was always quite popular in Serbia and I don't see why it couldn't work with scheduled flights especially after we saw how successful Aegean and Wizz Air were from Rhodes, Heraklion and Santorini.
Someone posted passenger numbers for BEG, SOF and SKG. Belgrade seems to be holding up quite nicely this year and I am certain that next year it will be the same. We should all start focusing on who will offer what from spring. We already saw TK add a third daily and others are starting to ramp up their presence (KL, LO, SU...).
I still think a fun summer is ahead of us.
One of the main issues for LH in Belgrade (and elsewhere for that matter) is that they have significantly reduced their US network and it is having a ripple affect on many European routes.
DeleteAbsolutely though they have a JV with UA so basic market needs are still being met. I have been flying with LH since 2006 and the only thing that has remained constant over all those years is that their product has only gotten worse. I think that's one of the reasons why passengers are migrating to other carriers in Belgrade.
DeleteTrue, their service levels have deteriorated rapidly.
DeleteDoes KLM offer any food/drinks on their flights to/from BEG?
DeleteI don't think that the Serbo-Spanish market is mature yet. Maybe BCN is a bit more popular but the rest of Spain is way too disconnected from Serbia. MAD began but with a shaky start.
DeleteNo AGP, no PMI, no ALC, no VLC, no Canarias. There is plenty of room for improvement and not to mention LIS.
Even Ukraine and Moldova have good connections with the Iberian Peninsula.
Yes. In economy a sandwich, cookies and complimentary drinks.
DeleteIn business there is a trip report
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2021/05/trip-report-klm-amsterdam-belgrade.html
Above comment is meant for anona @10.19
Delete@10.22
Delete"Even Ukraine and Moldova have good connections with the Iberian Peninsula."
You should take a look how many people from those countries live on the Iberian peninsula.
@anon 10:23
DeleteThank you.
@10:25 cummon man. No Mallorca or Málaga?!?! All of Europe is connected....
DeleteThere are summer charters for when people go on holiday. I don't know what you want. Even on the lists of busiest unserved routes from Belgrade which were published here none of them were on the list. And I don't understand what your rant has to do with Lufthansa Group route suspensions.
DeleteMAD had a shaky start? Really? From what I remember the first summer when it was launched they didn't wait long before increasing it from 2 to 3 weekly, same with BCN. Mind you, Madrid performed really well despite not offering all connections via BEG.
DeleteBEG-Spain might not be as developed as BEG-Greece or BEG-Turkey but it has been increasing each year. Just before covid, JU planned VLC while W6 announced LIS in 2020. Naturally covid killed both routes but it shows that the trend remain uninterrupted. This year we got the resumption of MAD as well as Wizz Air's flights to Barcelona. Remains to be seen what becomes of LIS. Personally I'd rather have TAP resume flights but I think Wizz Air is more likely. I just hope they revise their previous schedule which was horrendous.
Growing demand to Iberia is something LH Group can profit from especially since their hubs in ZRH, VIE and MUC are conveniently positioned to offer minimal detour. I am sure they will also profit from Vueling's passivity as well as from Alitalia's collapse.
^Ignore him. He constantly spams about Spain.
DeleteTrue, you are right.
DeleteI don't like this.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly Austrian seems to have the least cuts.
ReplyDeleteCatering for the exodus of people fleeing Vienna.
DeleteWhat? Why?
DeleteI'm assuming he means people who left because of the lockdowns in Austria. Or maybe they are escaping the compulsory vaccination being introduced in a few weeks.
DeleteAccording to some comments compulsory vaccination won't be introduced in Austria due to technical / legal difficulties.
DeleteFrance is actually closing its ski borders for UK visitors and they are searching for alternatives elsewhere because of Omicron. You can check out YouTube for videos. Brits seem to be looking into Austria,Switzerland, Bulgaria and some say Serbia. If LH group flew to Niš, it would've been very beneficial for the second busiest Serbian airport.
ReplyDeleteSwiss flies to Nis, but only in the summer.
DeleteCan someone tell me why is everyone closing again as Omicron has been proved as very mild?
DeleteSomething like cold or flu we had before.
Such a shitty political move. Omicron is literally everywhere and you can't stop it, but they are closing the borders for UK passengers? Even UK removed all of the countries from it's red list weeks ago when they realised there's no point.
DeleteAccording to Salzburg airport homepage they are expecting in Salzburg 65 arrivals on Saturday, 8th January. 26 of those arrivals are from the UK, despite the hefty entry restrictions in Austria for tourists from the UK.
DeleteNo surprises. Look at the mess in the US.
ReplyDeleteI was about to say how Skopje seems to have been unaffected. Then I realized Austrian is only LH group airline flying there.
ReplyDeleteit sucks knowing that
DeleteHow many weekly flights does OS operate to skopye?
DeleteIn summer 14x weekly, in winter (in general) 11x weekly, in the week after 20.Jan. 8x weekly, in the week after 1. Feb. 9x weekly, in the week after 15.Feb. 10x weekly.
DeleteIt's amazing how none of these suspensions are having an impact on Pristina. Airport seems virus immune.
ReplyDeleteTurkish Airlines say a HUGE thank you. Lufthansa Group -> such a joke of an airline.
ReplyDeletewhat a joke. This shows the true nature of this "industry". Its all about profit and not service. Although I do work in this branch, I realy hope (and know), that fast trains will destroy all the Ryanairs, EasyJets, Wizzairs and all other short-haul companies. Future is already here - Freccia Rossa was key factor in sealing the fate of Alitalia. https://www.trenitalia.com/en/frecce/frecciarossa.html
ReplyDeleteI hope trains will prevail soon.
''What a joke'' True, they should just fly empty planes.
DeleteThere was a report I read somewhere online that after Austria banned short flights in favor of trains, only 16% of the passengers made the switch. The rest simply replaced VIE as their transfer airport with MUC or FRA.
DeleteAs for Alitalia, I think they killed themselves. You have Spain as a great example where many domestic flights survived despite facing competition from fast trains.
Out of curiosity, which short flights were banned? From what i see OS is still flying to GRZ, KLU, INN.
DeleteAlitalia is still alive, it's just under a new company and a new name. It's been done many times in the past already.
DeleteAs for trains, great, try going from Maribor to Koper in Slovenia with one of those "fast trains". 5 hours. Berlin-Brussels... 8 hours. Warsaw-Munich.. 14 hours.
The only way we could see trains becoming a serious alternative on short haul in Europe is if aviation will become taxed proportionately with regards to its impact on environment, i.e. tax on emissions, jet fuel, etc.
LH is protected and they won't be forced to switch to trains or reduce service due to eco concerns. One recent example: LH launched Lufthansa Surprise, an offer where customer flies to a surprise location. Unlike regular ticket where you fly to a specific destination for a purpose, this is LH trying to behave like LCC and create unnecessary travel demand without a real need. This wasteful offer is happening with green party in the new government. There might be pressure on other countries to switch to trains, use newest planes etc but they will do everything to save their LH.
DeleteNemjee, France and Austria - https://www.airport-technology.com/features/should-eu-impose-ban-short-haul-flights/
DeleteAlitalia is no longer alive, new company was severed quite hard. I talked to a ticket agent, who told me, intra-Italian flights have been hit hard by Freccia Rossa and they conitune to do so. He is selling more and more railway tickets. Adria Airways was able to float regardless of its fleet (especially CRJ) because they were successful in attracting transit passengers from Skopje, Tirana and Pristina (daily waves from Balkans towards rest of Europe). Majority of routes from LJU (FRA, MUC, BRU etc) should be served with turboprops, CRJ is far from able to sustain its operations (except in wave system, like AA had). There are handful of routes which have to be served by jet due to the distance, but there is no interest large enough, to justify A319/320 B737/738 or even A220 daily or at least frequent connection between certain cities. Fast train from Ljubljana to FRA, MUC, even AMS and BRU would be worth considering. 6 hr hassle-free journey on fast train, where you can walk, work and not being crowded...I think it can beat any airline any time. You would be surprised how low percentage of the ticket price is actually fare. LH will soon be interested in trains too. I think we shall see this in near future - hybrid offer of train plus airplane ride. We are still in 18th Century in regard to satisfying travel needs and there is a lot of space for optimization (hybrid travel). I still find it difficult to understand, that people are willing to spend so much time and money just to travel short haul with airplane....2 hours prior departure is kinda minimum these days, one needs to park at the airport - not cheap, then fly for an hour or two, then travel from airport to city again and possibly even to another city. For what? We will be forced to change our travel habits soon and I think the airlines not willing to adapt will be deleted by the 2030 the latest.
Freccia Rosa, tomorrow, Milano-Napoli one-way, 5h and 103 EUR.
DeleteBGY-NAP with Ryanair (largest airline in Italy), 1h 20 min, 29 EUR.
Hm, difficult choice.
@Nemjee; there is no ban on domestic (or short-haul) flights in Austria. A politician of the Austrian Green party started a discussion about that topic ... but until now there is no legal ban. OS had until a few years ago one daily flight to LNZ and three daily flights to SZG. OS stopped these flights after a high speed train line from Salzburg and Linz to Vienna Airport was inaugurated. Nowadays there are about 20 daily train connections from these Austrian cities to VIE. From Linz to Vienna airport the train takes 1hour and 40minutes. Most of those trains have a OS flight numbers too and may be booked on GDS. The 20 daily train connections to Vienna offer much more connections to other OS destinations than the former one daily flight between LNZ and VIE. Baggage can be checked in already at the train station to the final destination.
DeleteYes, sorry, I was referring to VIE-SZG which was terminated as part of the state aid package and passengers switched to the train service. On another forum there was a link in German where it said only 16% of the passengers made the switch from plane to train.
DeleteAs pointed out by Anon 17.13, aviation still remains a popular choice for many and I don't see trains taking over anytime soon.
Governments will follow this lunacy until it starts affecting the economy. Once tax income starts going down and people start losing their jobs they will reconsider all that.
LH is only looking after own interests as it should.
ReplyDeleteBergamo is 45 minutes from Milan, that’s 30 min drive minimum. I would even say an hour, including getting out of Milan, next: parking is not cheap, minimum 50 € and to get from Napoli airport to the city again 5€ Alibus, 19 € min taxi. So your Ryaniar fair gets pretty close to Freccia Rosa. 1 hr 20 quickly gets increased by 1 hr on the road and 1 hr at the airport (min). I will ALWAYS rather take 5 hr trip in fast, superconfy train, than 1 hr 20 in Ryanair livestock plane
ReplyDelete45 km
Delete