Airport boss alarmed about possible route cancellation

The head of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG, Götz Ahmelmann, is alarmed about possible route cancellations at Lufthansa. When Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr warns that routes such as Dresden - Munich are under review due to high location costs in Germany, this is a clear signal, Ahmelmann wrote in a LinkedIn post. "This is not about a single airline or an airport - it's about the connectivity of regions and the competitiveness of Germany as a business location."

100 domestic German flights may be in question

Lufthansa CEO Spohr had previously stated that the company's domestic German offering could be further thinned out due to high taxes and fees. Around 100 flights per week could be eliminated from next summer. The Dresden - Munich route is one of the routes under review.

Ahmelmann emphasized that Flughafen AG, together with the Saxon state government, is doing everything "to keep Dresden connected". But a federal state cannot compensate for "what the federal government makes structurally more expensive through an excess of levies, taxes and regulatory hurdles". The state-induced location costs in Germany must be reduced, demanded Ahmelmann.

Lufthansa is already cutting costs in Saxony

Lufthansa currently connects the Saxon state capital with Munich up to four times a day. Lufthansa had discontinued the connection from Leipzig to Munich with the 2025 summer flight schedule. The Group subsidiary Eurowings removed the Leipzig-Düsseldorf route from its program at the end of last year. Lufthansa also made its ground staff at Dresden and Leipzig/Halle airports redundant this year.

Domestic flights are important for business and science in Saxony because they connect Saxony with the major international hubs of Munich and Frankfurt. From there, business travelers can fly to Asia or America. At the end of September, representatives from business, science and politics approached Lufthansa CEO Spohr and pointed out the importance of the connection.