Lufthansa cuts 20,000 flights as fuel crisis bites in Germany

Summer travel from Germany is looking less and less predictable by the day: The latest being that Europe’s biggest airline group, Lufthansa, has announced the end of its CityLine unit, effectively cancelling 20,000 short‑haul flights through October with more reductions to follow.

“Lufthansa Group optimises flight offering” reads an announcement of the changes, which are part of the firm’s effort to cope with sharply increased fuel costs. 

This comes as the largest announcement of flight cancellations by a major German airline so far, but may prove to be the first of many to come if jet fuel imports to Europe don’t increase soon.

Surging kerosene prices, and looming supply issues, in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran and are now feeding directly into airlines’ route planning.

Which flights are going?

According to the announcement by Lufthansa Group, the cuts to its summer schedule amount to just under one percent of its available seat kilometres (ASK) for the coming season. In simple terms it equates to around 20,000 cancelled short‑haul flights between now and October.

The first wave of cancellations has already begun. According to the airline, around 120 flights per day have been cancelled since Monday and will continue through to May 31st.

The airline says that affected passengers have already been notified.

READ ALSO: ‘Messy breakup’ – Travellers in Germany frustrated with Lufthansa disruptions

Most of the reductions affect routes from Lufthansa’s biggest German hubs, Frankfurt and Munich, where less profitable short‑haul services are being dropped or merged.

A handful of destinations, including Bydgoszcz and Rzeszów in Poland and Stavanger in Norway, have been temporarily removed from the timetable altogether.

Lufthansa has not specified when – or if – these routes are expected to return. Other services are instead being rerouted via alternative Lufthansa Group hubs in Europe.

Importantly for passengers, Lufthansa stresses that long‑haul flights and global connections remain largely intact. New, revised schedules for the rest of the summer are due to be published in late April or early May, offering more clarity for travellers with plans to travel later in the season.

For passengers who have already booked tickets on cancelled flights, EU rules require airlines to offer either a refund or rebooking.

Compensation generally only applies if cancellations occur less than 14 days before departure and are not caused by “extraordinary circumstances” – a point that may be contested if fuel shortages worsen.

READ ALSO: Cancellations and fuel surcharges – What air travellers in Germany should know

What is driving the cuts?

While recent strikes have caused short‑term disruption, the main issue here is the looming scarcity of fuel. Jet‑fuel prices have more than doubled since the outbreak of the Iran conflict, pushing airlines’ biggest cost sharply higher.

A spokesperson for Lufthansa previously told The Local that the group was “better protected against [price] fluctuations” because its “kerosene requirements for 2026 are hedged at approximately 80 percent”.

Still, that means around a fifth of Lufthansa’s fuel needs to be bought on the open market, where prices have risen sharply.

In response, the airline is grounding older, less fuel‑efficient aircraft and accelerating the shutdown of its regional CityLine operation, which served short European routes.

Similar decisions are being reported across the aviation industry, as airlines attempt to conserve fuel, cut losses and stabilise schedules.

For travellers, the message is clear. The economic shock of the US‑Israeli attack on Iran is no longer confined to petrol station prices – next it can be expected to reshape how, and how easily, people can travel in and out of Germany and Europe.