Lufthansa has announced the closure of its regional subsidiary, Lufthansa CityLine, as part of urgent cost cutting measures. As a result, all 27 operational CRJ900 aircraft utilised by Lufthansa CityLine will be permanently withdrawn from service as of tomorrow. The German carrier said the move is aimed at preventing further financial losses within the unit.
The development is set to have a notable impact on Lufthansa’s operations across the former Yugoslavia, with hundreds of flights removed from the Global Distribution System overnight. All services between Munich and Ljubljana have been taken out of the system from April 18 until June 1. In addition, the majority of flights between Munich and Belgrade have been removed, although a limited number remain scheduled, primarily on Fridays and Sundays.
Other routes operated by the Lufthansa CityLine subsidiary include services from Munich to Dubrovnik, Split, Pula, Rijeka and Zadar. These have also largely been removed from the system. However, flights to Dubrovnik, Split, Pula and Zadar are also operated by Lufthansa mainline and will continue as scheduled. In contrast, all services between Munich and Rijeka have been removed. The airline’s operations beyond June 1 remain in the system, indicating scheduling past this date has not been updated.
At this stage, the fate of Lufthansa CityLine-operated flights remains unclear. This does not necessarily mean that all affected services will be cancelled. The airline is likely to source replacement aircraft for some routes, however, it is unlikely to be able to replace all 27 aircraft during the peak summer travel period, which will likely result in a notable reduction in flights. Lufthansa has not commented on whether specific routes will be impacted by the closure of CityLine. The schedule changes outlined above are accurate as of the time of publication (April 17 at 09:00 CEST).
Till Streichert, Chief Financial Officer of the Lufthansa Group, said, “The package for accelerated implementation of fleet and capacity measures is unavoidable in light of the sharply increased kerosene costs and geopolitical instability. The goal is to focus our short- and medium-haul platforms more clearly and make them more competitive. In this regard, we had already identified the prospective removal of CityLine from our program as part of our strategic development for some time, independently of the current geopolitical crisis. The current crisis is now forcing us to implement this measure earlier. This is a painful step, particularly with regard to the colleagues at Lufthansa CityLine”.
Lufthansa also plans to remove long-haul capacity by a total of six aircraft at the end of the summer flight schedule. As a result, the last four remaining Airbus A340-600s will leave the fleet in October. Additionally, two Boeing 747-400s will be grounded from October onwards for the coming winter. In the 2026/27 winter flight schedule, the airline will reduce capacity of the Lufthansa core brand as part of the envisaged consolidation of short- and medium-haul traffic across six hubs of the Lufthansa Group. This additional capacity reduction corresponds to five aircraft of the Lufthansa core brand. The developments come off the back of four days of industrial action by staff and the year Lufthansa and ten days after the carrier celebrated its centenary.
