United Airlines is awaiting Government approval to a plan to boost links between the US and Germany. The carrier is seeking permission to add a second daily rotation on its route from Newark Liberty International Airport to Frankfurt to supplement its existing daily Boeing 777 service. The new flight has been tentatively scheduled for a January 2, 2012 launch and will be operated by a 757-200 of partner carrier Continental Airlines.
Germany is the second largest European market from the US, behind the United Kingdom. In the past year an estimated 7.24 million O&D passengers travelled between the two countries. This is just over half the number that travel to or from the UK (13.543 million) but notably higher than the third and fourth ranked countries France and Italy which recorded 5.27 million and 4.00 million O&D passengers, respectively.
However, the German market has been rather stagnant over the past five years, as the table below clearly illustrates. O&D demand hit in peak in the year ending June 2008 but has seen declines in each of the subsequent three years as the industry has been battered by a global economic storm. However, the decline has been increasing and network development should facilitate a return to growth in the next 12 months.
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PASSENGER TRAFFIC BETWEEN GERMANY AND THE US (bi-directional O&D traffic) |
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|
YEAR ENDING |
ESTIMATED O&D PASSENGERS |
% CHANGE |
|
June 2011 |
7,238,651 |
(0.8 %) |
|
June 2010 |
7,293,824 |
(3.8 %) |
|
June 2009 |
7,580,435 |
(7.5 %) |
|
June 2008 |
8,191,791 |
6.6 % |
|
June 2007 |
7,686,925 |
1.1 % |
|
June 2006 |
7,601,430 |
- |
The New York – Frankfurt market is already well served. Alongside United Airlines’ existing flight Lufthansa offers double daily services to both Newark Liberty International and New York JFK, using an Airbus A380 on one of the latter’s rotations. Delta Air Lines also has a daily 757-200 link from New York JFK, while Singapore Airlines flies a daily 747-400 on the same route. Ahead of the introduction of the second United Airlines frequency there are already seven flights per day offering over 16,000 seats in each direction.
In the past year an estimated 153,000 O&D passengers travelled between Newark and Frankfurt and 391,000 between New York JFK and Frankfurt. United Airlines carried around 50,000 O&D passengers, a 33 per cent share of the Newark – Frankfurt market.
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