German flag carrier Lufthansa continues to adjust its network, with the airline set to suspend flights between Frankfurt and Skopje for at least a month. The carrier will operate its final service between the two cities on May 31, after which no flights are scheduled throughout June. Operations are currently expected to resume from July 1, although the airline has yet to finalise its updated timetable. Up until May 16, Lufthansa will maintain a daily service on the route, after which frequencies will increase to between nine and ten weekly flights until May 31. Prior to revising its schedule this week, the airline had planned to operate ten weekly rotations between Frankfurt and Skopje throughout June.
The development follows a turbulent April for Lufthansa, during which the carrier was hit by industrial action, the closure of its CityLine subsidiary, and the subsequent suspension of numerous routes. The airline has also been revising its Frankfurt operations, removing a number of destinations from its network. This week alone, Lufthansa cut 944 weekly flights in June, 258 in July, 250 in August, 260 in September, and a further 258 weekly services in October.
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. The wider Lufthansa Group is accelerating the consolidation of its European networks within its hub carriers - Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and ITA Airways. This follows the adoption of its “Matrix Next Level” programme last year, a restructuring initiative aimed at centralising operations across the group’s network.
There will be more cuts to unprofitable routes like this one across all of Ex-Yu if oil prices don't drop.
ReplyDeleteThis is just beggining of what will come next
DeleteThere is expected attack on Iran very soon so the worst is yet to come and the jet fuel problem will be even bigger
Unfortunately it is true.
DeletePopular holiday destinations have enough demand to support fuel surcharges and fare increases, non tourist destinations in Eastern Europe used primarily by diaspora not so much.
You said that a few times already
DeleteWhat is the point of a month suspension on the middle of summer?
ReplyDeleteCapacity issues.
Delete09:11 this airline using A320/321/319 all March, April and you are saying capacity issue in June are you for real ?
DeleteIt is jet fuel issue not capacity, dont just write non sense comments
^ You fail to comprehend that June network is much bigger than March and April.
DeleteSummer season is in full swing by June and LH has increased operation in Med hotspots then.
The suspension isn't only a month long. Lufthansa just hasn't updated its schedules for July onwards yet.
DeleteYeah but it was the same for MUC-LJU and it came back. SKP is exploding right now, LH won't be able to resist getting a piece of the cake.
DeleteThis airline has become so unreliable
ReplyDeleteAnd changing and adding schedule every single day...
DeleteGood news for JU. With 13 weekly flights from BEG to FRA and 14 to SKP, it will provide good connectivity for all passengers traveling on the FRA-SKP route and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteAlthough flights via Frankfurt were for global connections which JU is limited by.
DeleteYeah, I think Austrian Airlines will profit much more from this. Lufthansa will rebook passengers on them.
Delete09:16 It is enough for the JU to collect P2P that now have to travel through some hub.
DeletePassengers who still do not have LH ticket will surely look for SKP-BEG-FRA alternative.
DeleteIf Frankfurt is the destination. But this is a route used for global connections
Delete^ LOL, no!
DeletePeople from SKP do not travel to FRA just to connect to global destinations, they actually go there because it is a region with 8 million people and LOTS of diaspora from the region.
Well indeed, but not all. Losing a route with global connectivity is quite a loss, even if only for a period.
DeleteDoesn't Wizz fly SKP-HAJ? Most North Macedonians use them when traveling that is why they are so dominant in SKP.
DeleteHAJ is far from FRA.
DeleteI have a Macedonian friend living in Frankfurt and he hates using the Wizzair service Frankfurt Hahn- Skopje but there will be people who use this an an alternative in June. OS will defenitly profit the most from this, they have 10 dailly flights to Frankfurt, JU also will benefit but OU is also good connected with Frankfurt.
Deletethey will never be able to rebook them all on OS
DeleteDont be surprised, I told this here couple days ago this is just beggining of what will come next. If the jet fuel prices doesnt go down and now clearly they just rise , the biggest problems are yet to come
ReplyDeleteNow expect W6 to increase Frankfurt Hanh to daily :)))
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed!
DeleteAlthough they are hardly even comparions of a route for reasons we all know well.
DeleteYes but after this in June will be the best option ... if Lufti did not te schedule this change on Tuesday :D
DeleteCroatia Airlines doubling flights and wet leases A321 for SKP starting tomorrow, as a prompt reaction to market changes. Oh, wait, it's 1st May holidays, Jasmin went to Sarajevo for long weekend and city break. Never mind, it was too early anyhow
Delete11.14 thanks for the laugh :)
DeleteAlthough not that funny
DeleteI giggled.
DeleteAnother route cut. Lufthansa’s network “adjustments” are starting to look more like a slow retreat from thinner markets.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that even though LH might be withdrawing, LHG is still present through EW, OS or LX in many of these smaller and thinner markets. This is just optimizing their network in line with new economic realities.
DeleteA one month suspension doesn’t sound like much but these temporary cuts have a habit of becoming permanent.
ReplyDeleteIt shows to me that they have some internal problems.
DeleteNobody suspends a flights for a month few weeks in advance and in the middle of SUTT.
especially after increasing it
DeleteThis airline is going from bad to worse. it’s one and only advantage was its relative reliability and the ability to master through crisis situations.
ReplyDeleteIt was neither the german generous service nor the efficiency of its hubs in FRA and MUC.
Now they are worse than any low cost carrier ever but still charge you more.
Austrian and Croatia Airlines may hope to see their numbers improve, especially OU which was hardly hit by its entrance on the macedonian market.
what a mess, return fares with OS have now skyrocketed
ReplyDeleteThey will do what they did in BEG, increase some flights from A320 to A321.
DeleteThey will hand it over to OU.
ReplyDeleteThis summer has become unpredictable — no one knows what will happen in 1 or 2 months.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice if they kill FRA and launch Munich instead as LH anyhow plans to expand further from Munich.
ReplyDeleteI think at the end of the day, by the number of airlines that have cut freqiencies to SKP since this crisis began we can conclude it is a low yield market. Almost all legacy airlines flying out of SKP have cut frequencies.
ReplyDelete