Lufthansa is disconitnuing flights between Frankfurt and Skopje after over three years of operations. As initially reported, the route was to go on hiatus on June 1 for a month and resume on July 1, however, the carrier has now removed all flights for the remainder of summer, as well as the coming winter season, which begins on October 25. It is offering alternative routings to Skopje via Vienna through its susbdiuary Austrian Airlines. The route was maintained ten times per week. The wider Lufthansa Group is accelerating the consolidation of its European network within its hub carriers, which is expected to lead to ongoing network adjustments.
Lufthansa launched services between Frankfurt and the Macedonian capital in late April 2023. During the previous winter, it made significant cuts to its Skopje operations, reducing frequencies from a planned ten weekly to just three weekly rotations throughout February and March. It successfully applied for subsidies provided by the Macedonian government to launch the route, with the support running until December 30, 2025. Lufthansa was the sole carrier on the route, however, Wizz Air maintains operations to Hahn, 125 kilometres from the German city's main airport.
The development follows a turbulent April for Lufthansa, during which the carrier was impacted by industrial action, the closure of its CityLine subsidiary, and the subsequent suspension of numerous routes. It has since announced the resumption of flights from Munich to destinations in the region affected by the CityLine closure; however, this week it has further reduced planned frequencies. As a result, Lufthansa now intends to maintain 17 to 18 weekly flights between Munich and Belgrade from July to October, down from the revised 18 to 19 weekly and below the 19 to 20 weekly operated during the same period last summer. Similarly, services to Ljubljana have now been revised to eleven weekly flights between July and October, down from the originally planned fourteen weekly rotations.
Well it was to be expected.
ReplyDeleteIs this the first European market Lufthansa has left recently?
ReplyDeleteFrom FRA no, they left a few like STR
DeleteStuttgart is not a whole country. And it is accessible by train from Munich in the same time as the flight takes.
DeleteHe spoke of markets they left, not countries.
DeleteAlso if I am traveling from PEK to STR then I will just switch to MUC, VIE, IST... than fly to FRA and then take a train. FRA will lose from this move, LH not so much because they will just move passengers to their other hubs.
Not surprising. Lufthansa seems to be pulling back from thinner regional routes and focusing on where yields are stronger. Skopje probably just didn’t make the cut once subsidies ended.
ReplyDeleteWhich means BEG is a high yield market for them. Same with ZAG
DeleteIts a mature market for them yes.
DeleteIf only OU offered proper waves they could pick up transfer pax from SKP
DeleteDoes OU flight from SKP offer connections onto LH from ZAG?
DeleteNope
DeleteOU planning to discontinue SKP together with Sarajevo. New OU strategy to cut losses.
DeleteAt this rate I don't see more than 2-3 weekly staying in summer. Wizz Air is the new sheriff in town.
DeleteWizzair have been the only 'sherrif' in that town for a long time
DeleteA big loss for Skopje. Frankfurt is a major global hub and Vienna is not a perfect substitute, especially for those connecting long-haul to North America or Asia.
ReplyDeleteI think they were canibalizing each other.
DeleteI had long-haul flights, and not once, the itinerary was SKP-VIE-FRA, and then onwards with LH.
With LH there was no need to fly to VIE first. This was convenient for me (though it wasn't really a hustle to first fly to VIE- it was always short layovers ca.1 hr), but obviously it was unconvenient for OS.
Didn't we read on here how their flights were full and how they even sent the A321?
ReplyDeleteSkopje fanboys will declare the airport to be the greatest on earth. But reality is the market is very heavily weighted towards gastro routes.
DeleteWhat is your point? Many flights were indeed full, and yes they did send the A321.
DeleteAnd yet has failed to mature enough for them to keep.
DeleteAnd how does that invalidate the fact that flights were indeed full and that an A321 was indeed sent?
DeleteIts doesnt at all. Why would you eirther care or think such a thing?
DeleteThe A321 was not a regular occurence, it was probably for operational reasons.
Delete@ 09:14 We have indeed to trust to your imagination.
DeleteWizz Air to Hahn is not really an alternative for many business travellers. Hahn is nowhere near as convenient as Frankfurt Main.
ReplyDeleteBusiness travellers to the city of Frankfurt can go via Vienna or even via Belgrade.
DeleteWith double daily BEG-FRA, JU is now more than convenient.
DeleteLufthansa’s network planning looks quite messy this year. First temporary suspensions, then resumptions, now full cancellations. Feels like they are still firefighting internally.
ReplyDeleteThey have too many hubs close to each other. There were many overlapping services which make no sense. This is just them being rational.
DeleteVIE MUC ZRH FRA are too close and a more logical use isn't bad.
DeleteBut it implies some routes change, what is important to LHG is to carry the passengers to where they want at acceptable price/cost.....flying through VIE MUC ZRH FRA or even BRU or FCO is not relevant.
Not a great sign for the Macedonian market. If a 10 weekly Lufthansa route can’t survive, what does that say about demand?
ReplyDeleteYou are mixing a few things up. Demand can be great and seemingly was over the last few months, but the real issue here is the yield. At what price (revenue) and therefore profit can Lufthansa fill up their planes from SKP. And later was the issue here. Lufthansa has a Cityline-closure induced shortage of aircraft, which urges them to introduce a slight consolidation of their network, where some lower yielding routes as primarily domestic and a few interntional routes just dont make the cut. This was the case here in SKP, even though demand itself is not weak.
DeleteCityLine has little to do with complete termination of FRA-SKP. If it did then it would be like BEG, short break and flights would be back.
DeleteThis has to do with LH not being happy with the performance once subsidies were over. Many predicted this would happen but we were told that SKP is a prime market and that LH has no problem filling their A321s.
Skopje fan boys are very vocal as we know. The odd a321 was never a sign the route was booming.
DeleteThere is demand for sure, but at what price? If the price of the demand is not right, LH goes somewhere else.
DeleteEverybody is equally cheering for their respective airports. Not sure why you are focusing on Skopje fan boys.
DeleteBecause they are the most aggressive out there.
Delete+1
Delete@13.08 its also a problem on your side
DeleteLufthansa seems to be quietly reducing its footprint across the Balkans
ReplyDeleteWell the era of needing to connect to get to Skopje from the rest of Europe is past. Its a very small
DeleteMarket but has nowadays a really good level of direct connectivity.
Actually a big loss for SKP!
ReplyDeleteIt has lost one of the majot hub connections along IST. Probably, one of the biggest problems was the the impact which was felt on OS after LH’s market entrance. I know many people travelling with OS to US who switched to LH due to better and less connection time. Additionally, LH seems to have many internal problems and the consollidation will have a shrinking effect.
Now OS and OU can catch a break. The biggest winner will be TK however.
Hopefully TAV and the govt. can find some replacement for this hub loss with maybe AF/KL launchung flights in some foreseeable future although I am not very optimistic.
I cannot see KLC starting to Skopje anytime soon.
DeleteFor long-haul probably TK would benefit the most. For European flights OS, not sure about OU, as their connecting network is ever thinner
DeleteJU also has a lot to gain from OU/LH cutting down on SKP.
DeleteWith OU reducing flights in Winter to just 4 weekly I don't see them as a proper alternative.
DeleteAs we have noted many times, OU doesnt provide connectivity so it is not an alternative.
DeleteThis could be an opportunity for another Star Alliance carrier
ReplyDeleteSuch as?
DeleteUnited 😀
DeleteSingapore Airlines. We can connect there for business travel to Frankfurt.
DeleteJokes aside, ITA could have potential actually
DeleteYes, I could see ITA with 3 weekly A220 flights.
DeleteI agree. It could be a nice route for them with North america connections
DeleteWon't work, ITA will fail just like LH failed because O&D is not really to switch from W6. They are loyal to them and most passengers are not corporate clients or businessmen in order to switch to a legacy.
Deleterealistically Austrian will probably just absorb most of the connecting traffic.
ReplyDeleteJU will profit here as well
DeleteYes, it will probably get some traffic although it's natural modt will drift to OS.
DeleteEven though frequencies were reduced, it is good to see LH quickly restore flights from Munich to Belgrade and Ljubljana. Since larger aircraft are being used, capacity has not fallen and may even have risen slightly.
ReplyDeleteLjubljana is going from 90 seater to 150 seater, and losing 2 flights out of 14, i think it's a huge increase
DeleteActually 3 bust still a big increase.
DeleteThis is disappointing. Especially since they had 10x weekly.
ReplyDeleteThey put a good number of frequencies to make hub feeding work. The yields probably just weren't there.
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteLosing a major legacy carrier when you have so few is not ideal
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWell the airport is still well connected around Europe. Its not the end of the world
DeletePity
ReplyDeleteThey are changing their plans every two weeks. In a few days they will add more flights with Austrian :)
ReplyDeleteOr not
DeleteDanke Deutschland.
ReplyDeleteThey aint a charity..
DeleteIt's quiet, Macedonians are lucky to be close to Pristina and can fly from there. There are plenty more day trips between Pristina and Frankfurt.
ReplyDeleteThis is disappointing. Frankfurt was one of the most useful routes from Skopje for onward connections.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to all the talk about Lufthansa strengthening its regional European network? Feels like the opposite
ReplyDeleteFRA-SKP return flights in July with OS cost now 400-500€
ReplyDeleteDo you want to go to Frankurt in July?
Deleteno but to Macedonia
DeleteIf he goes to North Macedonia for holidays to visit family in the summer, of course he is going to want to go back. Often in July too.
DeleteFlying during the summer isnt cheap
DeleteI’d love to know the load factors.
ReplyDeleteThe real issue is Lufthansa Group centralising everything. If Austrian can carry the passengers, they see no reason to duplicate capacity.
ReplyDeleteWell if LH were centralizing then OS would be cut and LH would carry the passengers
DeleteIf Lufthansa can’t make it work even with prior state support, it raises questions about how sustainable similar incentive programmes really are.
ReplyDeleteThe incentive program is there purely for Wizz Air. Anyone else that applies is just on the side.
DeleteChilling news, feels like a cold stab. The only major hubs Skopje remains connected to are VIE and IST, not counting WAW as it has a rather poor connection global footprint compared to OS and TK.
ReplyDeleteI can only hope the MK Government (and Tav lol) will manage to attract another legacy carrier (ITA or AF/KL) but I see the chances of this happening as quite slim given the current crisis.
Cold stab? Thats very very over the top langauage
DeleteIt did work for SKP for many years, LH was just a nice addition.
DeleteMajority of people travel with Wizz anyway
@anon 20:36, as SKP is my home airport, and being a relative-ish frequent flyer, I was quite proud LH was serving the market, amidst low connectivity with other major hubs and frequent changes in destinations out of SKP (a sign of a market that has not yet reached a point of certain maturity). And I have the full right to be sad regarding this development.
DeleteYou habe full right indeed. But its not a stab. Thats totally over the top language. These are companies out make money for shareholders. Not to forfill av geeks desires. Skopje and the wider market is small and will forever mainly a low cost market. Im sure Lufthansa will
Deletebe back one day, but not a huge need to be dramatic about it.
Meanwhile Wizz keeps growing because it understands this market better than the legacy carriers.
ReplyDeleteGasto central🤣
DeleteMost legacy airlines cant make money from it given the price sensitivity and also distance from central and western european hubs. All the more reason why Skopje being a wizzair base is useful.
Delete