On October 27, Frankfurt Airport’s new winter schedule will become effective – in tandem with the end of daylight saving time in Germany. In winter 2019/20, a total of 88 airlines will be offering passenger flights from FRA, serving 259 destinations in 99 countries worldwide. Boasting the highest number of intercontinental destinations, Frankfurt Airport thus confirms its position as Germany’s prime international aviation gateway. The winter schedule will remain effective until March 28, 2020.
New to take off from FRA in the coming winter season are Corendon Airlines (XC) and Corendon Airlines Europe (XR) with regular flights to Izmir (Turkey) and Marrakesh (Morocco), respectively. German low-cost airline Eurowings (EW) will also start flying from FRA for the winter schedule 2019/20, in cooperation with its parent Lufthansa (LH).
Eurowings will be offering three weekly services to Barbados, Mauritius and Las Vegas (U.S.) from FRA. These routes will also be served by German leisure carrier Condor (DE). Moreover, EW is launching three weekly services to Windhoek in Namibia – complementing Air Namibia’s (SW) daily flight on this route.
Lufthansa will continue its five weekly service to Austin, Texas (U.S.), launched in summer 2019. The German flag carrier will also continue offering two daily flights to Chicago (U.S.) in the coming winter season. Moreover, LH will maintain the Frankfurt-Tampa route, offering six weekly flights to this sunny destination in Florida (U.S.). For those who prefer skiing in the Rocky Mountains in the winter season, United Airlines (UA) will continue offering six weekly connections from Frankfurt to Denver in the U.S. state of Colorado. Condor (DE) is again flying to Samana and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, thus adding two sunny Caribbean destinations to FRA’s winter schedule.
WOW Air (WW), Adria Airways (JP) and flybmi (BM) have ceased operations due to bankruptcy. These airlines previously operated on European routes to/from FRA. Azores Airlines (S4) and Ural Airlines (U6) will also no longer be flying from FRA in the upcoming winter schedule.
Fraport AG’s executive board chairman, Dr. Stefan Schulte, said: “The growth in intercontinental services further enhances the already outstanding connectivity of the Frankfurt global aviation hub. However, we are also being impacted by the worldwide economic slowdown and a number of geopolitical risks – as well as the consolidation of the European air transport market and the capacity problems at some airlines due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX. In this already difficult environment, the planned increase in the domestic air traffic tax will further weaken the international competitiveness of the German aviation market.”
A total of 4,130 passenger flights per week will be operating from FRA during the winter schedule 2019/20. This represents a four percent drop compared to last year. Broken down by regions, 630 of these flights will serve domestic destinations (within Germany), while 960 will be intercontinental flights, and 2,540 flights will serve other European destinations. Seat capacity will decrease by 2.5 percent year-on-year to 760,000 seats per week overall, while seat capacity in intercontinental traffic will grow by nearly 2 percent to 280,000 seats per week.
(All the above changes are in comparison to the 2018/2019 winter schedule.)
