Lufthansa is heading for a crash landing

By Rhod Mackenzie

Russian No Fly Zone which is much more efective than anything they can come up with.
Its an ongoing ban by Russia on airlines from so called unfriendly countries crossing Russian airspace to get to Asia as for most major  European airlines has always been particularly lucrative with the huge  business class revenues on long haul flights to and from Asia
Now, anyone with even a basic knowledge of geography knows that Russia is the largest country in the world. Its landmass is larger than that of the USA and Canada combined. It stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, spanning 11 time zones. The distance between Moscow and Vladivostok is 5,603 miles — to put that into perspective, the distance between London and Los Angeles, including the Atlantic Ocean, is only 5,400 miles.
When the US and EU introduced their 'shock and awe' sanctions, they intended to use them as weapons to destroy the Russian economy and bring the country to its knees.
One of the measures introduced was a ban on all Russian flights into EU airspace; the US instituted a similar ban. This obviously stopped all Russian flights into Europe, bringing Russsian ailines  passenger traffic to a halt.
After this ban was introduced, Russia decided to close its skies to all airlines from countries it deemed unfriendly, including the US, EU, G7 and their allies.
Consequently, airlines in the EU are now suffering losses due to the closure of Russian airspace. However, one person's loss is another person's gain: airlines from BRICS and SCO member countries, plus others who did not slavishly follow the sanctions, took advantage of this serious miscalculation by the EU and UK politicians.

But lets talk now about now at  the European airlines that are really feeling the pain.Now Europe's biggest airline, Lufthansa.

Lufthansa, an airline that until recently was a symbol of economic power not only in Germany but throughout Europe, is undergoing major layoffs in both flights and personnel. The airline's management is demanding government support and is under pressure from trade unions. But how and why is this renowned company in decline?

Not only is Lufthansa the largest airline in Germany, it is also the largest in the entire EU. As well as Lufthansa itself, the group includes airlines such as Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines. The group also holds a minority stake in the Italian airline ITA Airways.
Lets remember that Lufthansa, was seen a symbol of Germany's economic and industrial might
Jens Ritter, CEO of Lufthansa Airlines, complains that the government hasn't planned any benefits for his company in the 2026 state budget. He essentially accuses the government of lying, as the ruling coalition once promised state support to airlines. However, the opposite has happened: since the beginning of 2025, take-off and landing fees have increased by 40%, and navigation fees by 25%. Meanwhile, the cost of a single flight has increased by 128% since 2019. Given that the German budget is already in deficit, it would be surprising to expect anything different.

Unsurprisingly, the number of regional flights operated by Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, has recently halved. German airports are losing their appeal for airlines.
Ritter considers this development dramatic and warns of the consequences:
'Entire economic centres in Germany are no longer sufficiently connected to international markets.' Once we lost the ability to fly across the Russian land mass we could not compete with the Chinese and Middle Eastern Airlines on flights to the lucrative Asian markets which caused a huge drop in out revenues across all our airlines.
He said swift political action is now needed to stop the downward spiral. Greater government involvement is required to reduce our costs for air traffic control and aviation security. Furthermore, the air travel tax should be reduced.

Due to the challenging environment in the aviation industry, Lufthansa may have to lay off three to four thousand employees. The company's CEO, Carsten Spohr, has openly stated that it will not be possible to maintain current cost levels. 'We need to reduce our administrative costs. Our goal is to reduce them by 20 per cent,' Spohr explained.
Plus its not just Lufthansa
Now Finnair was once blessed with unique commercial advantages, but squandered them due to its governments politics in joing the sanctions against Russia.
Finnair's business model, which previously ensured its long-term success, was built on offering fast connections between Europe and Asia. Prior to the closure of the Russian skies, Finnair was among the few airlines that could offerg fast direct flights between the EU and Asia on a daily basis. However, the route from Helsinki to Tokyo has now had to be routed via the North Pole. Finnair's COO, Jari Paajanen, has stated that three crew members were previously sufficient to fly through  Russian airspace, but that now most flights to Asia involve four pilots.
Fuel consumption has increased significantly, and Finnair has has to cease operations on most of its former Asian routes which incidently were their most profitatble. Following the company's failure to secure  routes through Russia to Asia, competitors have capitalised on this market, particularly Asian and Middle Eastern airlines.
For example, Finnair's previous flight from Helsinki to Shanghai took less than nine hours, whereas the current flight duration is now over 12 hours. For European airlines, the current flight time from London to Shanghai is approximately one and a half hours longer than before the airspace closure, and the return flight is two and a half hours longer.
Plus, Lufthansa's flight time from Frankfurt to Beijing has increased by two hours due to the need to fly around Russia.
Looking at the curent winter schedules of European airlines, it's clear that they have accepted defeat and realised that they cannot compete with Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern airlines on flights to China, Japan and South Korea. Korean and Japanese airlines are also unable to compete on routes to Europe.
According to a report by Aviation Week citing data from the British consultancy firm OAG, Chinese airlines have increased their capacity on routes to Europe by over 26%, whereas European airlines have reduced theirs by 48.5%.
The journey time for the Air France route from Paris to Tokyo is now around 14 hours. Meanwhile, the British airline Virgin Atlantic has been forced to suspend its flights to Hong Kong.
Longer flights will also force European and American companies to replace planes and increase crew costs, as well as figuring out how to make planes fly for longer with less stress in the new environment.
Meanwhile, India's Air India has gained an advantage over its Western counterparts.
Last week, its flight times to the US and Canada were about an hour and a half faster than those of Air Canada and United Airlines, and much cheaper. On comparable routes, Air India used around 7.5 tonnes less fuel than its Western rivals, saving around $8,500 per flight.

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific also uses Russian airspace and has a non-stop flight on the Hong Kong–New York route, which was previously operated outside Russian airspace.

Other major Chinese and Asian airlines operating in Russian airspace have seized the commercial advantage offered by the exclusion of their Western rivals.

Middle Eastern airlines, which are state-owned, which decided against imposing sanctions against Russia and continue to use Russian airspace. This gives Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways major advantages
It has  been have calculated that the average cost of an economy class flight on a Chinese airline on this route will be around €200 less than on a European carrier. According to Aviation Week, China Eastern generally offers the lowest fares on routes from Frankfurt to Tokyo and Bangkok with a stopover in Shanghai. Furthermore, Air China's economy class fares are among the most competitive on routes Europe to Seoul down to Singapore and other destinations with a stopover in Shanghai.

These factors have resulted in a notable expansion of the market share held by Chinese airlines. According to Aviation Week, their market share has grown significantly in the five years since, from approximately 58% to nearly 77%.
In fact, European airlines essentially face two possible scenarios. The first is to accept the loss of market share and focus on individual routes to China, where they can ensure their flights are sufficiently full. The second option is to put pressure on EU authorities to restrict access to the airspace of EU countries bordering Russia for all airlines, including Chinese,and Middle Eastern ones,' said Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviaport agency. Otherwise, they will be forced to exit the Chinese market.
However, there is an alternative course of action: reversing the decision to close EU airspace to Russian airlines. This would enable Russia to lift a comparable prohibition, thus allowing European airlines to reinstate their presence in the lucrative Asian and Chinese market."