Route network

Route network of the Lufthansa Group significantly expanded

As part of the multi-hub strategy, Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines offer their passengers a broad range of flights from these airlines’ hubs in Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich as well as Vienna and Brussels. The regional Group airlines Lufthansa Cityline, Lufthansa City Airlines and Air Dolomiti provide short-haul feeder services for the network airlines. The network airlines are supplemented on long-haul routes by the route networks of the alliance and joint venture partners, which offer extensive transfer connections. Eurowings provides a comprehensive range of direct connections for European short- and medium-haul destinations. Eurowings has expanded its presence in point-to-point traffic, with new bases in Hanover, Nuremberg and Graz and new connections from Germany to Dubai. Discover Airlines, operating under a new brand name, and Edelweiss, the Lufthansa Group’s holiday airlines, focus on tourism destinations for short-, medium- and long-haul flights and thus supplement the capacity of the hubs.

During the reporting year, the Lufthansa Group continued to expand its route network. The number of destinations on offer was around 96% of the pre-crisis level in the summer season. Available capacity also increased steadily in 2023 and for the full year came to some 84% of its pre-crisis level, even reaching 89% in the fourth quarter.

Available capacity on European short- and medium-haul routes was 91% of that in 2019 on average. In the fourth quarter it came to 96%. A recovery was also seen on intercontinental routes. Available capacity in the fourth quarter of 2023 was at 85%. Transatlantic traffic is already back at 90%, with Asian routes still at 74% of their pre-crisis capacity. This is primarily a reflection of the slower recovery in air traffic on routes to and from China and Japan.

Russian airspace remains closed to the airlines of the Lufthansa Group as a result of the sanctions imposed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This means that flight routes to Japan, South Korea, China and Central Asia are still significantly longer in some cases. Continental direct flights to Russia and Ukraine remain suspended. Ongoing tensions in the Middle East also meant that flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut had to be temporarily suspended in the fourth quarter of 2023.