In the last two days it became known that the Lufthansa Group will no longer connect the Austrian federal state airports of Linz and Innsbruck as well as the German Friedrichshafen to its main hub in Frankfurt am Main - at least for the time being. The three airports are now hoping that Skyalps will step into the breach, but the South Tyroleans do not yet have a contract with Lufthansa.

The three routes are mainly used by people transferring because the pure point-to-point volume is manageable. The proportion of business travelers is quite high, as it is currently the only connection to an air traffic hub with numerous transfer options in both Linz and Friedrichshafen. In Innsbruck there are Vienna and Amsterdam as alternatives. However, the KLM hub is served at a comparatively low frequency.

Linz was left behind by the Austrian Airlines hub in Vienna a few years ago. It was the first route to be “shifted to rail”. However, many travelers, especially business travelers, are dissatisfied with this and are switching to flights from Vienna, Salzburg and Munich. The journey is usually by car. People who travel privately also use trains, but regardless of the flight ticket and it is not uncommon for them to book with low-cost airlines that are cheaper than Austrian Airlines and/or Lufthansa.

Linz and Friedrichshafen without hub connections

With the at least temporary deduction from Air Dolomiti, the Upper Austrian airport is currently no longer connected to the Lufthansa Group route network. You are also left behind from the networks of other carriers, because Frankfurt am Main was the last remaining hub connection in Upper Austria. Hopes now rest on Skyalps, which is already active on the Düsseldorf route, not only expanding its offering on this route but also taking over Frankfurt am Main. Airline boss Josef Gostner spoke in an interview even from Vienna flights from Linz.

The situation is comparable in Friedrichshafen, because the Frankfurt flights provide the last remaining connectiong to an international hub. Here, too, there is hope that Skyalps could fly to Frankfurt in the future and possibly even accommodate Berlin and/or Hamburg. Even Bolzano is an issue from both Linz and Lake Constance Airport.

Innsbruck has connections to Vienna and Amsterdam

Innsbruck is a little better, because there is still a connection to the Austrian Airlines hub in Vienna. In terms of the variety of destinations, this is significantly smaller than that of the parent company in Vienna, but at least you are not left behind. There are still low-frequency flights to the KLM hub Amsterdam. In contrast to Graz you shouldn't lose this connection.

It is well known that Skyalps is ready. But at the moment the passengers wouldn't benefit much if the Bolzano-based carrier flew from Linz, Innsbruck and Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt am Main, because two separate tickets would have to be purchased and any luggage would have to be checked in again in Frankfurt. There is currently no cooperation agreement between the Lufthansa Group and Skyalps. Friedrichshafen Airport in particular hopes that the crane will at least agree to an interline contract. This would allow one-way tickets to be sold, complete with luggage. Unless a special pro rate contract is also signed, it could be really expensive for the passengers, because then the two tickets will be “stuffed together”, but each will be charged at the full price. Without such an agreement, it will be very difficult to compete with offers from Munich or Vienna, for example.

A codeshare agreement would be ideal, but Lufthansa is also very selective here and prefers to conclude such agreements with partners within the Star Alliance and/or providers that have been on the market for a long time. Code sharing would allow Lufthansa – depending on the agreement – ​​to have tariff sovereignty over a certain number of seats. There wouldn't be much difference for the passengers compared to the previous flights of Air Dolomiti or Lufthansa Cityline.

From Skyalps' perspective, wet lease orders would of course be optimal. The economic risk would then be borne entirely by Lufthansa because it would then be operating as a subcontractor. Apart from just carrying out flights, the crane would also be responsible for almost all other matters, especially sales.

Skyalps cooperation is not fixed

But the Skyalps/Lufthansa collaboration has a catch: the Lufthansa Group is traditionally very careful when selecting cooperation partners. You usually only sign contracts with companies that not only have a good reputation but also have many years of experience. The aim is to avoid that your own passengers get stranded somewhere and that the trouble then gets stuck with the Lufthansa brand, because the interline, codeshare or wetlease partner is hardly noticed. A possible scenario: The partner files for bankruptcy and Lufthansa has to find solutions.

The basic criterion for being able to work with Lufthansa as an airline is the so-called IOSA safety audit. This is considered a kind of gold standard in international cooperation because mutual auditing is complex. Not only travelers from the Lufthansa Group, but also its partners, such as United Airlines, could sit on a flight operated by Skyalps. The IOSA audit simplifies many things and is the minimum standard for cooperation in all major alliances. In addition, in the case of Lufthansa, they also have their own criteria that far exceed the IOSA requirements. This is for safety reasons and Lufthansa makes special efforts in this context.

However, Skyalps currently does not have an IOSA audit. Without this, the Lufthansa Group will hardly engage in cooperation. It is well known that people talk to each other. Neither Austrian Airlines nor the crane make a secret of the fact that there are discussions. But in the industry everyone talks to everyone and there are definitely alternatives.

Bus connections to Munich are being examined

For example, the complete isolation of the regions or shuttle buses to the Munich hub. These could run from Linz, Innsbruck and Friedrichshafen. Lufthansa has not had good experiences with this from Tyrol, but passengers do not have many alternatives to their own car or train. Another option would be to cooperate with a carrier that has an IOSA certificate and, ideally, already cooperates with Lufthansa elsewhere. The only question is: Does the Lufthansa Group even want to continue to connect the regions to Frankfurt?

When asked, a Lufthansa spokesman said: “Lufthansa is currently examining options for an alternative connection from Lake Constance Airport Friedrichshafen to Lufthansa’s global route offering from Frankfurt. We cannot comment on further details at the moment. We ask for your understanding". The company particularly did not want to comment on the topic of Skyalps.

Innsbruck's airport boss Marco Pernetta told the Tiroler Tageszeitung that the comeback of the bus connection to Munich Airport is currently being examined. He said that this “could come”. In the past, previous editions of “Lufthansa bus trips” were not accepted at all, especially by business travelers, so that the vehicles operated with extremely low occupancy and many courses even had to be canceled due to a lack of bookings.

Passenger numbers are likely to suffer - not just in Innsbruck

Unless a solution is found, Lufthansa's decision is likely to have an extremely negative impact on passenger numbers at Innsbruck Airport. In 2023, the Frankfurt connection, which is currently still served by Air Dolomiti, was used by around 130.000 passengers. It is very unlikely that these passengers will all now fly via Vienna or Amsterdam. As already mentioned: In Linz and Friedrichshafen the effects are even more problematic, because both airports were previously only connected to the Frankfurt am Main hub.

“Lufthansa is continually evaluating and optimizing its entire route network. Due to unscheduled maintenance work on Pratt & Whitney engines in the Lufthansa A320neo fleet, Lufthansa Airlines will have significantly fewer aircraft available next year than originally planned. Therefore, the company has decided to suspend some connections at the start of the 2024 summer schedule (March 31, 2024) that have not shown positive economic development in recent months. Lufthansa expressly regrets this decision. This also affects the connection between Frankfurt and Linz and Frankfurt to Innsbruck. We cannot currently give a conclusive answer as to when the routes will be resumed. The engine problem with the Airbus A320neo fleet will concern us for a long time. We will therefore decide whether to resume at a later date,” said the media officer.