Which routes have Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa stopped operating during the last year?

Starting new routes is something that airlines and airports like to see getting as much media attention as possible (and anna.aero does what it can to help). And after all, there’s a lot to shout about – a new route is a big commercial risk with major assumptions about demand and revenue. So any publicity to promote the service to potential passengers is not only appreciated, but very necessary. But airlines and airports are understandably less forthcoming when it comes to ending service on a particular route – it’s hardly the kind of development which makes you want to bake a cake. This week, anna.aero has decided to take a look at Europe’s three biggest legacy carriers (Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa) to see which non-stop routes they have abandoned between August 2010 and August 2011. These three airlines transported around 134 million passengers in 2010, around 40% of all passengers handled by the AEA (Association of European Airlines).

Air France scales back Lyon network

Air France’s biggest network changes have been made at Lyon where it has dropped three international routes to Copenhagen, Madrid and Munich. All three routes are still served by SAS, Iberia and Lufthansa respectively, while easyJet also operates the Madrid route. Two domestic routes to Deauville and Le Havre have also been terminated.

Route	WF (WS) S10	Last operated	Comment
London City – Jersey	5 (250)	29 Oct 2010	Now operated by Blue Islands
Tarbes-Lourdes – Figari	1 (50)	28 Aug 2010
Lyon – Copenhagen	5 (250)	30 Oct 2010	Competing with SAS
Lyon – Deauville	12 (600)	5 Sep 2010
Lyon – Le Havre	11 (506)	24 Dec 2010
Lyon – Madrid	12 (600)	24 Oct 2010	Competing with easyJet, Iberia
Lyon – Munich	12 (600)	30 Oct 2010	Competing with Lufthansa
Nice – Deauville	1 (50)	28 Aug 2010
Nice – Limoges	2 (92)	12 Sep 2010	Now operated by Airlinair
Strasbourg – Copenhagen	5 (250)	25 Mar 2011
Paris Orly – Southampton	7 (322)	30 Oct 2010	Now operated by Flybe (16/wk). Air France codeshares.
Source: OAG, Air France WF: Weekly Frequency WS: Weekly Seats

Other international routes that have been dropped are between Strasbourg and Copenhagen, and London City and Jersey. The airline’s daily service between Paris Orly and Southampton has now been taken over by Flybe. However, Air France codeshares on the route which has seen a significant increase in frequency and capacity.

British Airways drops leisure routes from London

With hubs at London’s two busiest airports, British Airways’ network planning is more complicated than at some other legacy carriers. At Heathrow, the airline has dropped flights to places of contrasting fortunes – upcoming Belgrade and war-torn Tripoli, while flights to Malaga have moved from Heathrow to Gatwick. At Gatwick, Luxembourg flights have been moved over to Heathrow, while services to the leisure destinations of Antalya, Izmir, Sharm El-Sheikh and Varna have all been axed.

Route	WF (WS) S10	Last operated	Comment
London Heathrow – Belgrade	7 (930)	30 Nov 2010	Competing with Jat Airways
London Heathrow – Malaga	14 (2394)	26 Mar 2011	Moved to London Gatwick at start of summer 2011 season
London Heathrow – Tripoli	7 (1134)	27 Mar 2011	Possibly re-starting later this year
London Gatwick – Antalya	3 (403)	30 Oct 2010	Competing with easyJet, Pegasus, Thomas Cook, Thomson
London Gatwick – Izmir	4 (569)	29 Oct 2010	Competing with Thomson
London Gatwick – Luxembourg	11 (1617)	26 Mar 2011	Moved to London Heathrow at start of summer 2011 season
London Gatwick – Sharm El-Sheik	3 (801)	2 May 2011	Competing with easyJet, Monarch Charter, Thomson Airways
London Gatwick – Varna	2 (294)	28 Oct 2010	Competing with Bulgaria Air
Billund – Stockholm Bromma	10 (194)	13 Oct 2010	Launched 21 Sep 2009
Billund – Helsinki	6 (192)	22 Mar 2011
Stockholm Bromma – Helsinki	10 (320)	13 Oct 2010	Launched on 16 Aug 2010. Finnair also started route on 16 Aug 2010.
Source: OAG, British Airways WF: Weekly Frequency WS: Weekly Seats

In Denmark, British Airways franchise carrier Sun-Air has dropped flights between Billund and Helsinki, and between Billund and Stockholm Bromma. It also terminated its Stockholm Bromma to Helsinki service after just two months, a route that Finnair (like British Airways a member of the oneworld alliance) started at the same time, and is still serving.

Lufthansa begins phasing out Lufthansa Italia network

Lufthansa’s list of dropped routes consists entirely of international services. From its German bases, it has terminated routes between Cologne/Bonn and Paris CDG, Munich and Linz (a route of less than 200 kilometres), Munich and Miami (the only truly long-haul route route axed in this survey), and Stuttgart and Athens (where its low-cost subsidiary germanwings continues to offer services).

Route	WF (WS) S10	Last operated	Comment
Cologne/Bonn – Paris CDG	9 (450)	23 Dec 2010	Air France (Airlinair) started route on 10 Jan 2011
Frankfurt – Bahrain	4 (720)	9 Apr 2011	Now operated as 1-stop via Dammam. Competing with daily non-stop Gulf Air service.
Munich – Linz	10 (720)	30 Oct 2010	Sector is just 175 kilometres
Munich – Miami	3 (663)	7 May 2011
Stuttgart – Athens	2 (200)	30 Oct 2010	Competing with germanwings (2/week)
Milan Malpensa – Budapest	6 (744)	30 Jun 2011	Operated by Lufthansa Italia, competing with Malev
Milan Malpensa – Bucharest OTP	7 (868)	30 Oct 2010	Operated by Lufthansa Italia, competing with easyJet
Milan Malpensa – Casablanca	1 (124)	25 Sep 2010	Operated by Lufthansa Italia, competing with easyJet, jet4you and Royal Air Maroc
Source: OAG, Lufthansa WF: Weekly Frequency WS: Weekly Seats

From Lufthansa Italia’s Milan Malpensa base, three routes have already been closed with the rest of the non-German network being closed down at the end of October, and the A319s used by the carrier being re-allocated across the Lufthansa group of airlines.

Ryanair still the leader for dropped routes

While Europe’s three biggest legacy carriers have dropped no more than around 30 non-stop services during the last year, this contrasts with Europe’s biggest intra-European carrier Ryanair, which dropped around 150 routes during the same period. However, Ryanair did start over 300 new routes, thus still growing its overall network by over 150 routes.