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Lufthansa Halts Flights From Frankfurt To Beijing Amid Surging Operational Challenges Resulting from Russian Airport Closure
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Lufthansa has introduced a halt in bookings for flights connecting Frankfurt Airport (FRA) to Beijing Capital Worldwide Airport (PEK), efficient from October 26. This transfer aligns with actions taken by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, who’ve additionally scaled again their operations to China amidst ongoing challenges.
Initially, Lufthansa deliberate to run the Frankfurt-Beijing route 5 instances weekly by the winter 2024-25 season with Airbus A340-300s, based on OAG Schedules Analyser. Now, the airline will preserve its Beijing service solely from Munich Airport, using A350-900s for 5 weekly flights this winter. Nonetheless, Lufthansa will proceed every day providers to Shanghai Pudong Worldwide Airport from each Frankfurt and Munich hubs.
The closure of Russian airspace has notably lengthened Lufthansa’s Frankfurt-Beijing flights by as much as two hours, including to the operational prices. In the meantime, Chinese language airways have maintained a aggressive edge by persevering with to fly over Russia to achieve Europe.
Lufthansa identified that whereas nations comparable to China, the UAE, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia robustly again their aviation sectors, European carriers are more and more hampered by political components that impression their competitiveness. These challenges vary from escalating charges and strict laws to one-sided environmental insurance policies and outdated infrastructure.
With Lufthansa’s exit from the Frankfurt-Beijing route, Air China will change into the only operator, at the moment providing 16 weekly flights on this sector with Boeing 777-300s, as per OAG information.
In associated developments, Virgin Atlantic is ready to stop its sole mainland China route by the top of the summer season 2024 season, discontinuing flights between London Heathrow and Shanghai Pudong beginning October 25. Equally, British Airways introduced in August a pause on its Heathrow to Beijing Daxing flights starting October 26.
Conversely, as European carriers scale back their presence, Hainan Airways is increasing its Europe-bound operations. The airline has scheduled the launch of a brand new route from Shenzhen to Madrid on November 19, planning to function it twice weekly with 787-9 plane.
