At Nuremberg Airport, two connections to Star Alliance hubs are shaking badly. Both Austrian Airlines and Swiss are reviewing their flights to the Bavarian airport. in other words: Both Vienna and Zurich could be discontinued.

Both Nuremberg Airport and the passengers were able to easily cope with the loss of the feeder flights to Munich that were once offered by Lufthansa. There are enough alternatives, especially with your own car, to get to Franz Josef Strauss Airport. Lufthansa itself has set up a so-called express bus that can only be booked if you fly with the crane and/or a Star Alliance partner. According to reports, despite initial reluctance from passengers, this is being accepted quite well.

However, it is a few kilometers more to Zurich and Vienna, so replacing it with a coach is definitely not an issue. However, both routes, which also function as hub connections to the respective hub, are being put to the test. Both Swiss and Austrian Airlines could stop these flights as early as the 2023/24 winter flight schedule.

The Vienna route has a long history, which, to put it simply, can be described as a back and forth route. Austrian Airlines had given these to Eurowings and the aircraft used turned out to be too big. It went back to the AUA and due to the de Havilland Dash 8-400 being phased out, we have pretty much reached the same point. Air Berlin once also had this route in its portfolio, although in recent years it has mainly used turbopro aircraft from the Walter aviation company. Swiss reactivated the Nuremberg route comparatively late after the corona pandemic.

When asked about the future of the Nuremberg-Zurich connection, the Swiss carrier told Aviation.Direct as follows: “We are currently examining further service from Nuremberg and no final decision has been made yet.” Almost the same words can be heard from the AUA headquarters: “We are currently examining further operations from Nuremberg, no final decision has been made yet.”

However, the decisions are likely to be made in the next few days, as the 2023/24 winter flight schedule begins at the end of October 2023. Knowing full well that compensation under the Air Passenger Rights Ordinance may be due for cancellations made less than 14 days before the scheduled departure, it can be assumed that Settings in the room should be announced outside of this period if possible.