After Kolkata (Calcutta) in March, Lufthansa will close its Munich-Singapore-Jakarta route from October. Seat capacities this winter will be consequently down by over 12% compared to 2011.
BANGKOK- Quietly, Lufthansa continues to streamline its Asian network. For the coming October, Lufthansa will cut over 12% of its seats capacity compared to October 2011. Last year, the carrier offered in October 2011 a total of 1,139 services per month to Asia out of Frankfurt and Munich with a capacity of 351,264 seats. This next October, these figures will be respectively down to 995 flights per month with a capacity of 308,765 seats.
The German carrier already terminated its thrice-weekly Frankfurt-Kolkata services last March as it was too unprofitable. Last March, Lufthansa explained that sold seats in its Business class to Calcutta reached only on average 30% compared to 70% for Frankfurt-Delhi.
Next October, this will be the turn of Munich-Singapore-Jakarta to become the latest victim of Lufthansa cuts in Asia. Singapore and Jakarta are still currently served five times a week from Munich with an Airbus A340-300. Lufthansa will continue to operate a daily A380 service from Frankfurt to Singapore, but will no longer fly to Jakarta. The final flight from Munich to Singapore and onward to Jakarta will depart on 14 October 2012.
“We regret that in future Lufthansa will no longer provide a connection between Munich and these two capital cities in Asia. Given the current two-runway system at our Munich base, we will soon reach our limits in terms of expanding our flight schedule,” said Thomas Klühr, a member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board, Munich & Direct Services.
It sounds a rather strange explanation as a five-time weekly frequency is unlikely to bring more congestion to the runway system. Probably, Lufthansa is feeling the pinch of the recession in Europe with a possible decline in total number of transfer passengers out of Munich. The carrier suffers also increasingly –like other European airlines- from increased competition of Middle East carriers, which add every six months new capacities between their hub to Europe and Asia.
Lufthansa management said that it will only be able to achieve traffic growth where there is still sufficient infrastructure. Which means that it will not happen before at least a decade as people recently rejected the approval for a third runway at Munich airport. Maybe Lufthansa decision is just a way to pressure locals what change their mind… But it is sad that both Singapore and Jakarta are now sacrificed to this purpose. Lufthansa withdrawal from Indonesia will in fact end up a service to a city that Lufthansa opened some 50 years ago. And it will leave Jakarta with only direct services to Europe to Amsterdam and Istanbul…
Passengers who are already booked on flights from Munich to Singapore will be rebooked on a Lufthansa flight departing from Frankfurt, at no extra charge, and will be informed accordingly. Passengers for Jakarta will be rebooked on connecting Star Alliance flights.
Table: Lufthansa monthly seats capacity on top routes to Asia (October 2012)
|
From |
To |
Total Seats |
|
FRA |
PVG |
17,086 |
|
FRA |
NRT |
16,036 |
|
FRA |
PEK |
16,036 |
|
FRA |
SIN |
16,036 |
|
FRA |
DEL |
11,098 |
|
MUC |
DEL |
10,695 |
|
MUC |
HKG |
10,695 |
|
MUC |
NRT |
10,695 |
|
MUC |
PVG |
10,695 |
|
FRA |
BKK |
10,668 |
|
FRA |
KIX |
10,664 |
|
FRA |
BLR |
10,664 |
|
FRA |
KIX |
10,664 |
(Source: IATA SRS Analyzer)
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
