April 22, 2026 — German flag carrier Lufthansa confirmed it will cancel about 20,000 flights between now and October after announcing the earlier discontinuation of its CityLine subsidiary. The airline said the move affects primarily “uneconomical” short‑haul services and is aimed at cutting costs and fuel use amid sharply higher kerosene prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East.
Routes from Frankfurt to Bydgoszcz and Rzeszow (Poland) and to Stavanger (Norway) have been at least temporarily discontinued. Ten further connections — including Heringsdorf and Stuttgart (Germany), Gdansk and Wroclaw (Poland), Cork (Ireland), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Rijeka (Croatia), Sibiu (Romania), Trondheim (Norway) and Tivat (Montenegro) — will be rerouted via other Lufthansa hubs such as Munich, Vienna, Zurich, Brussels and Rome.
Lufthansa said the cancellations announced so far will save more than 40,000 tons of kerosene. The carrier noted that kerosene prices have roughly doubled since the start of the US‑Israeli war on Iran, pressuring its short‑haul network economics. The airline expects “stable fuel provisions” for its summer holiday operations and plans to publish further details of a broader “flight optimization plan” at the end of April.
Passengers affected will be offered alternatives or reroutings via partner hubs. Lufthansa framed the measures as temporary adjustments to network capacity in response to fuel cost spikes and shifting demand.