In the 2023 summer flight schedule, Lufthansa is making extensive cuts on some Munich routes. This also affects the hub connection to Graz, as this is only to be offered once a day.
Originally, the Graz-Munich connection was to be increased to up to 33 weekly rotations. However, nothing will come of it, because with the effective switch to the summer timetable period 2023, the Kranich Group will only be offering seven rotations between the two cities.
This reduction is quite dramatic for the connectivity of the Styrian airport, because numerous transfer connections via Munich can no longer be reached. Travel to the state capital of Bavaria twice a day will no longer be possible in the future. The economy in particular will be affected by the withdrawal of frequencies, which Lufthansa has not explained in detail.
It is currently planned that the number of Munich flights from Graz will remain limited to seven flights per week, i.e. once a day, over the entire 2023 summer timetable period. With the start of the 2023/24 winter flight schedule, the intention is to increase again, but it is still a matter of waiting for the actual implementation. Although passengers can alternatively use the hub connections to the AUA hub in Vienna, the KLM hub in Amsterdam and the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt am Main, a lot of capacity and transfer options are lost due to the extensive Munich reduction.
The reduction of the Graz route from Munich is not an isolated case. Lufthansa also operates routes to Amsterdam, Ancona, Athens, Barcelona, Basel, Bilbao, Billund, Birmingham, Wroclaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Manchester, Nice and Paris -Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, Toulouse and Warsaw back. Depending on the route, the extent of the cancellations is greater or lesser. Some of these are adjustments that should initially be limited to a few weeks.
In addition to Graz, the Basel-Munich route is particularly hard hit. This should actually be offered up to 35 times a week. The route will not be served at all from the start of the 2023 summer flight schedule until mid-August. After that, only daily flights will be offered.