German national carrier Lufthansa has confirmed the closure of its flight between Munich and Singapore, a route that offered an onward connection from Singapore Changi Airport to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. The Star Alliance member will continue to serve Singapore from Frankfurt, a route flown daily using an Airbus A380, but will cease operating into the Indonesian market.
Lufthansa launched services on the Munich – Singapore – Jakarta route in March 2001 but suspended the route for the first time less than a year later in January 2002. Flights resumed in June 2008 and the route has been served on an up to daily basis although it is currently flown on a five times weekly basis using an Airbus A340-300. The final flight from Munich to Singapore and onward to Jakarta will depart on October 14, 2012, according to the carrier.
“We regret that in future Lufthansa will no longer provide a connection between Munich and these two capital cities in Asia. Given the current two-runway system at our Munich base, we will soon reach our limits in terms of expanding our flight schedule,” said Thomas Klühr, a member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board, Munich & Direct Services. In the future, Lufthansa will only be able to achieve traffic growth where there is still sufficient infrastructure, it said.
In the past year an estimated 62,000 O&D passengers flew between Munich and Singapore, with a further 14,000 travelling between Munich and Jakarta. With fellow Star Alliance partner, Singapore Airlines also serving the Munich – Singapore route, Lufthansa has seen its share of the market decline to just 24 per cent in 2011, while its direct link to Jakarta was only securing around 16 per cent of the total demand between these city pairs.
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