From Sunday, travelers will no longer be able to fly with Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Beijing. The company cites economic reasons – also because it has to fly around Russian airspace.
Deutsche Lufthansa is discontinuing its daily connection from Frankfurt to the Chinese capital Beijing. As of the winter flight schedule from this Sunday (October 27th), the route will temporarily no longer be served for economic reasons, said a company spokeswoman.
However, the company continues to offer a daily direct connection to Beijing via the second hub in Munich. On this route, Lufthansa uses the Airbus A350, a more modern aircraft with lower kerosene costs. Older Airbus A340s were recently used from Frankfurt.
Competitors take advantage of cost advantages
The background to the route cancellation is the strong international competition. The Lufthansa Group has often complained about the unequal competition with providers from China, Turkey and the Persian Gulf.
The airlines from these countries benefited from low location costs, low social standards and high government investments in the aviation sector. In addition, unlike Western companies, they are still allowed to use the airspace over Russia, meaning they can fly shorter routes.
