German airline Lufthansa to end daily Frankfurt-to-Beijing service

German flagship airline Lufthansa is discontinuing its daily service from Frankfurt to the Chinese capital Beijing in the face of tough competition.

A company spokeswoman in Frankfurt said that the route would be temporarily discontinued as of the winter flight schedule starting on October 27 for economic reasons.

However, Lufthansa will continue to offer a daily direct connection to Beijing via its second hub in Munich. The Airbus A350, a more modern aircraft with lower fuel costs, will be used on this route.

Older Airbus A340s were last used on the route from Frankfurt.

The Lufthansa Group has complained about what the airline describes as unequal competition on the routes with providers from China, Turkey and the Persian Gulf.

Airlines from these countries benefit from low location costs, low social standards and high government investment in the aviation sector.

In addition, they continue to use the airspace over Russia, which shortens the route and gives those airlines a further cost advantage.

Western airlines have boycotted Russian airspace since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.