LUFTHANSA IS considering dropping its shorter domestic routes because of the expansion of Germany's high-speed rail network.
Executive board member Klaus Nittinger says that all air routes equivalent to 2h or less of ground travel time could be dropped as the rail network expands to provide more convenient connections. Routes affected would include connections from Frankfurt to Hamburg, Cologne and Stuttgart.
Nittinger admits that Lufthansa is losing money on such short-range services, with the routes kept open only as a feed to keep passengers within the Lufthansa network. The switch from air to rail on regional services was predicted as far back as 1990 by the then Lufthansa chairman Heinz Ruhnau.
Improved rail services and the construction of new rail terminals at Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf airports by the end of the decade could lead Lufthansa to extend the "rail-and-fly" concept which it uses between Frankfurt and Cologne. The carrier sells tickets, which are valid on Lufthansa flights and rail services between the two cities. The service offers passengers 27 connections daily.
Apart from being unprofitable for the airline, time spent checking in and travelling to and from airports makes short-range air travel increasingly inconvenient when compared with a ground travel time of less than 2h, according to Lufthansa.
The comments come soon after German regional carrier Eurowings announced that it would in future focus on international routes, because of increasing competition from the domestic road and rail network
Eurowings director Ulrich Sigmann says that the competition has resulted in services from Nuremburg to Hanover being cut by 50% and expects to drop the Hanover flights to Berlin within four years.
Source: Flight International
