Lack of plane availability forces German airline to drop Liverpool routes

In a surprising move, major airline Lufthansa has announced the cancellation of all flights to a popular UK airport starting from February 2024. Despite doubling its offerings earlier this year, the German airline will no longer operate routes between Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport and Frankfurt due to what it claims is a “lack of Lufthansa plane availability.”

The decision comes just two years after Lufthansa initiated flights to Liverpool in May 2022, with an increase in routes between the two airports during the summer of 2023. The Liverpool Echo attributes the abrupt cessation to the airline’s need for unscheduled maintenance work on some of its fleet, impacting the availability of Lufthansa planes.

A spokesperson from Lufthansa expressed, “Due to unscheduled maintenance work on Pratt & Whitney engines in the Lufthansa Airbus A320neo fleet, Lufthansa Airlines will have significantly fewer aircraft available next year than originally planned.” The company cites the suspension of routes, including Frankfurt-Liverpool, as a strategic decision based on the affected routes’ lack of positive economic development in recent months.

Passengers affected by these cancellations will be informed, with the information set to be published in reservation systems on December 19, 2023. While the decision is currently on hold, pending resolution of the aircraft availability issues, it has sparked disappointment among travelers and airport authorities.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport expressed disappointment in Lufthansa’s decision, emphasizing the strategic importance of the Frankfurt route for global connectivity in the City Region. The airport remains committed to working with Lufthansa to reinstate the service once the aircraft availability challenges are resolved.

The affected route enjoys popularity among travelers, eliciting responses on social media expressing dismay and disappointment. One social media user suggested reevaluating flight schedules at Manchester Airport to accommodate Liverpool-bound travelers, while others simply expressed being “gutted.”

As of February 2024, those looking to travel between Liverpool and Frankfurt will need to redirect their journeys to Manchester, where Lufthansa continues to operate daily flights between Frankfurt and Manchester, as well as daily flights between Manchester and Munich. The airline maintains other connections between Germany and various UK cities, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, London Heathrow, Gatwick, City, and Stansted.