Lufthansa is the latest international airline said to be reconsidering its current operations to China. A report published by Reuters has suggested that the German carrier could be about to axe its direct flights between Frankfurt and Beijing. Increasing competition from Chinese-based carriers and rising operating costs are said to be the leading considerations that the airline is grappling with as it mulls the future of the route.
Currently, the German airline offers five weekly flights between Frankfurt (FRA) and Beijing (PEK) using Airbus A340-300 widebodies. This service has been operated by both Airbus A380s and Boeing 747-8is in the past, but the drop in demand has seen it being downgraded to the carrier’s 279-seat A340 fleet.
According to sources at the airline, any decision to suspend the route will be taken in October 2024, once September traffic figures become available. However, despite the future looking uncertain for this route, it is thought that the company is likely to continue operating its daily service between Munich (MUC) and Beijing.
The possibility of the Frankfurt to Beijing route being dropped comes as Lufthansa undergoes a wider review of the activities of the Lufthansa Group carrier to East Asian destinations. Other Group members Austrian Airlines and SWISS never resumed flights to Beijing from Vienna and Zurich respectively since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Lufthansa’s services between Munich and Hong Kong (HKG) remain suspended.
The decision as to whether Lufthansa drops the route is thought to be largely driven by the need for European carriers to take more divergent routes between European cities and those in China. Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, airlines in Europe have been forced to re-route their flights heading to China to avoid Russian airspace.
However, Chinese carriers have continued flying significantly shorter more northerly routes to Europe and North America, reducing passenger travel times and making their services more attractive. The average flight time is reduced by around 2.5 hours using the more direct routes.
Additionally, western airlines have been more affected by the drop in Chinese overseas travel since the pandemic, with those that do choose to head to Europe preferring to use their home-grown carriers. For example, Air China, a partner airline of Lufthansa, continues to operate from Beijing to Frankfurt 11 times a week using Boeing 777-300ERs.
According to Cirium, the data analytics firm, in July 2024 the three leading international Chinese airlines China Southern, China Eastern, and Air China were operating 90% of their pre-pandemic international schedules compared to July 2019. This compares to just 60% of flights being operated by non-Chinese airlines to destinations throughout China.
The possibility of the German flag carrier dropping flights between Frankfurt and Beijing comes as a flurry of other European airlines have been axing services to China in recent months. Virgin Atlantic has dropped its services to both Shanghai and Hong Kong, destinations that it served for more than 20 and 30 years, respectively.
Meanwhile, British Airways announced that it would be canceling all future flights to Beijing from October 2024 and reducing its twice-daily services to Hong Kong (one of which was operated by an A380) to just a single Boeing 787-operated flight. Elsewhere, Qantas announced in May 2024 that it was ending flights between Sydney and Shanghai, while Royal Brunei will also cease flying to Beijing from October 2024.
Notwithstanding these cuts, other carriers, particularly those in the Middle East, are increasing flights to China as they offer new possibilities to European travelers connecting over their conveniently located hubs. Dubai-based Emirates has fully restored its pre-pandemic capacity to China, while Kuwait Airways has also been increasing frequencies and Gulf Air started flights for the first time to two Chinese cities from Bahrain in May 2024.