Lufthansa is to drop its one-stop service between Frankfurt and Doha from the end of October.
The carrier currently operates a daily routing of Frankfurt-Kuwait-Doha-Kuwait-Frankfurt.
But industry website routesonline.com reports that the Doha leg will cease on October 28, and a check of Lufthansa’s online reservations system shows no flights available beyond this date. The Frankfurt-Kuwait service will however continue.
Doha-based Qatar Airways operates twice daily flights to Frankfurt, as well as services to the German cities of Berlin and Munich, and Lufthansa has in the past criticised the Gulf carriers for their aggressive European expansion.
Lufthansa has provided Business Traveller with the following statement:
“The Lufthansa Group is continuously evaluating and optimizing its entire route network. As a result Lufthansa German Airlines has decided to suspend its operations on the route from Kuwait to Doha (Qatar) as from October 28, 2017. The last flight from Doha via Kuwait to Frankfurt will take off on October 27, 2017 from Hamad International Airport.
“This decision was taken due to the commercial development of the route over the past few years. Lufthansa started flying the route Frankfurt to Doha in May 1993 and despite substantial sales efforts this route was found to be commercially not viable. Only one year back Lufthansa had to again connect its operation from Doha to Frankfurt via Kuwait, due to the unsatisfactory commercial development of the route over the past few years.
“All existing bookings will be re-protected and therefore will be rebooked within the coming days. Effected customers will be informed and rebooked directly. Lufthansa will exercise maximum flexibility for possible cancellations/refunds to existing bookings.”
Dutch airline KLM recently dropped its flights between Amsterdam and Doha, stating that the service “has proven unprofitable since Qatar Airways launched direct service to Schiphol in June 2015”.
