The Apex Route Strength Indicator (RSI) score, ranging from 0 to 10, compares all routes against each other which are operated by the same airline. Routes performing above the average performance of their airline receive higher scores. Factors taken into account include revenue contribution, profitability, fare performance and capacity change. The RSI score helps airlines identify well-performing routes and those needing adjustments, ensuring network optimisation for maximum efficiency and profitability.
The aim of this article is to identify Lufthansa Group’s Airports, Markets and routes with the strongest performance across all airlines within the group. For this analysis, the seat capacity and routes of Lufthansa City Airlines, Lufthansa CityLine, Air Dolomiti, and Discover Airlines are included within Lufthansa’s umbrella, whereas the Edelweiss capacity and routes are included within SWISS.
Findings
Lufthansa Group’s Network Structure
In 2024, Lufthansa Group put 195 million seats in the market, with 85% of these seats served by the five full-service carriers within the group, including the operation of ITA, which has recently joined the group through a deal with the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). Chart 1 shows that Lufthansa itself holds 41% of the total capacity, with an additional 3% provided by the airlines under its umbrella, giving a total of 44%. On the other hand, Eurowings, the low-cost operator of the group, accounts for 15% of the total seat capacity, surpassing all the other carriers.
Chart 1: Lufthansa Group Carriers' Seat Capacity 2024
Table 1 shows that full-service carriers, except for Lufthansa and ITA Airways, concentrate more than 45% of their capacity in their main hubs. Lufthansa, on the other hand, has 50% of its operations split between Frankfurt and Munich, whereas ITA Airways has 53% of its operations in Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. Contrary to this, Eurowings, as is common practice for low-cost operators, has 55% of its capacity deployed across six airports, five of them located in Germany and one in Spain, as part of the flexibility that European carriers have of operating in the European Single Aviation Market.
Table 1: Seat Capacity by Airport
Furthermore, Chart 2 shows that in terms of capacity allocation for long-haul (+2,200 NM) and short-haul (-2,200 NM) routes, Lufthansa has a balanced distribution between Frankfurt and Munich for long-haul routes. In contrast, ITA allocates all its long-haul capacity to FCO, while Milan Linate primarily serves a European network, with 16% of its capacity allocated to its long-haul capacity. Eurowings, opposite to its FSC counterparts, has only 3% of its capacity allocated to long-haul flights, mainly concentrated in the Middle East due to the limited capability of their narrow-body aircraft fleet after retiring all their A330s.
Chart 2: Capacity by Type of Operation
Lufthansa Group’s Best Performing Routes and Markets
As shown in Chart 3 among all the main airports where the Lufthansa Group concentrates its capacity, Zurich has the best average route performance, followed by Frankfurt. These are the two main airports where the two full-service carriers with the most capacity, Lufthansa and Swiss, concentrate most of their operations.
Notably, all the main airports where Eurowings concentrates its network have the worst performance among all the Lufthansa Group airports. However, Palma, the only main airport outside Germany, has the highest score among the six airports. This is likely because the Apex Route Strength Indicator (RSI) score compares routes operated from Palma to all routes operated in Spain, rather than Germany, which is the case for the rest of Eurowings' airports.
Chart 3: Route Strength Indicator by Airport
In terms of best markets on average across the group, the Caribbean has the best performance, as shown in Table 2 This is mainly since Swiss (operated by Edelweiss) is the only operator on these routes within the group, so the result is not averaged with other less performing airports. Additionally, these are all long-haul routes, which contribute more strongly to the network overall. This trend is also seen with Lufthansa, where the longest markets in terms of nautical miles and less dense markets with less competition, such as South America and Africa, receive higher scores. These markets have fewer routes to compare, and also better performance due to less competition, leading to higher fares and better contribution to profitability.
Table 2: Route Strength Indicator by Market
Finally, the best routes for each airline mainly coincide with the best-performing markets. For example, in the case of Austrian Airlines, four of the top five routes are in Asia and one in Africa, which are the first and second best-performing markets from Vienna, respectively. For airlines with dual hubs, such as Lufthansa and ITA Airways, Lufthansa's best-performing markets are mainly from Frankfurt, with only one route of the top five from Munich. In contrast, all of ITA Airways' top routes are from Rome-Fiumicino and are all short-haul routes. One noticeable fact is the consistently good performance of Japanese routes across two operators, with Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda, and Osaka scoring 10, despite the operational restrictions on overflying Russian airspace.
Table 3: Top 5 Routes by Airline
Conclusion
Lufthansa Group boasts a robust global network across all its full-service carriers, demonstrating strong performance in all markets, particularly long-haul markets. In contrast, Eurowings' less favourable performance can be attributed to its focus on the European market, where intense competition leads to lower fares and therefore lower profitability. Consequently, many routes contribute less to the overall network profitability. Currently, there is some degree of integration of Eurowings into the network of its fellow airlines in the group, but it is not fully integrated. There are few connecting opportunities mainly sold through the other carriers of the group but not directly by Eurowings.
Passengers ultimately look for better connectivity, and a better integration of Eurowings into the rest of Lufthansa’s group network could enhance its competitiveness in the saturated European market. Vueling, for example, through Vueling Global, offers the ability to book connecting journeys with their full-service partners, which provides a better and more seamless travel experience. Therefore, leveraging the strong long-haul network of the group could offer an important competitive advantage for Eurowings over its competitors that do not have access to a global network.
Banner image by David Syphers on Unsplash
