Flying in Germany is becoming both more expensive and less convenient. A growing number of airlines are cutting flights and capacity for 2025 and 2026, with regional airports hit hardest. Even market leaders like Lufthansa, Ryanair, Wizz Air, and Eurowings are scaling back operations, blaming soaring taxes, airport fees, and repair costs that have doubled since 2019.
Lufthansa axes 100 domestic flights per week
Germany’s flag carrier Lufthansa plans to cancel around 100 domestic flights per week next summer, CEO Carsten Spohr told Welt am Sonntag. Routes such as Munich–Münster/Osnabrück and Munich–Dresden are being discontinued due to poor profitability.
The airline also expects further reductions for the winter of 2025/26, particularly at smaller regional airports including Bremen, Dresden, Cologne, Leipzig, Münster, Nuremberg, and Stuttgart. Spohr attributed the cuts to mounting operating costs and what Lufthansa describes as “an unsustainable tax burden” in Germany.
Ryanair: 2.6 million fewer seats
Low-cost carrier Ryanair is implementing even deeper cuts. During the summer of 2025, it will remove 1.8 million seats, ending operations entirely in Dortmund, Dresden, and Leipzig. Capacity in Hamburg will shrink by 60 %, affecting flights to Malaga, Milan-Bergamo, Edinburgh, and Porto, which previously ran twice weekly.
The downsizing will continue through winter 2025/26, with an additional 800,000 seats cut. Twenty-four routes will disappear from Ryanair’s German schedule, including flights from Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn, Memmingen, Nuremberg, and Bremen. Among the cancelled connections are Berlin–Tel Aviv, Berlin–Brussels, Berlin–Kraków, and Berlin–Riga.
Wizz Air trims winter timetable
Budget carrier Wizz Air is also tightening its operations across Germany. Flight data show frequency reductions at nearly all its German bases.
From Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, one weekly flight each to Tirana (Albania), Belgrade (Serbia) and Timișoara (Romania) will be dropped. Dortmund will lose two of its four weekly flights to Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Stuttgart will see reduced service to Sofia (Bulgaria) and Bucharest (Romania).
Eurowings cuts over 1,000 flights in Hamburg
Lufthansa’s subsidiary Eurowings is making major reductions of its own. Starting in summer 2025, more than 1,000 flights from Hamburg will be cancelled, including the domestic Hamburg–Cologne/Bonn connection. Six international routes will also disappear.
From summer 2026, Nuremberg will lose flights to Rome, Heraklion, Kos, and Rhodes, while Dortmund will see its base almost completely closed in winter — flights to Catania, Kavala, Thessaloniki, and Split will end, leaving only Mallorca as the last remaining route.
International airlines follow suit
The downsizing isn’t limited to German carriers. Several international airlines are reducing service to German airports as well: KLM has cancelled flights to smaller airports like Bremen and Hanover.
SAS is cutting routes between Copenhagen and German cities such as Hamburg and Düsseldorf.
Brussels Airlines is reducing service between Brussels and Munich.
United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines will drop transatlantic routes including Munich–Chicago, Frankfurt–Boston, and Berlin–Philadelphia in winter 2025/26.
British Airways will cancel several connections from London Heathrow to Nuremberg, Hanover, and Bremen by spring 2026.
Air France plans to reduce flights from Paris-Orly to Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Stuttgart.
Rising costs make flying a luxury
Airlines argue that they have little choice. Germany’s aviation taxes, airport fees, and environmental levies have made short-haul flying increasingly unprofitable. “Flying is becoming a luxury again,” commented one industry insider. For travellers — especially commuters and passengers in smaller cities — the upcoming flight cancellations mean fewer options, longer journeys, and higher fares.
