German flagship carrier Lufthansa took a 16% hit to passenger numbers on its flights to and from Aberdeen during 2016.
It reacted to the impact from the oil and gas downturn by using smaller aircraft between the Granite City and Frankfurt, Andreas Koester, senior director, sales, for the UK, Ireland and Iceland said yesterday.
Mr Koester, paying his first visit to Aberdeen since taking up his post in September, said 125,000 people used the Aberdeen-Frankfurt route last year.
The vast majority of them, 90%, used Frankfurt as a transit hub for onward connections to destinations around the world.
Eastern European or Eurasian airports such as Baku, Riga and Gdansk were the most popular destinations for passengers travelling from Aberdeen, while longer-haul favourites included Houston and Singapore, Mr Koester said.
Taking both directions of the Aberdeen-Frankfurt route into account, half of the passengers began their journeys in Aberdeen. About one-fifth started out from Germany and an equal number began their travels in the US.
Lufthansa’s twice daily flights from Aberdeen – there were three a day before the oil price slump – are currently using Embraer E90 aircraft, which carry about 25% fewer passengers than the Airbus 319s which previously flew the route.
Mr Koester said Lufthansa had the flexibility to use larger planes at short notice, which happened for his own flight to Aberdeen.
“This does not affect the quality of our product in the Aberdeen market,” he said, adding the airline had decided not to follow the example of rivals such as British Airways in making passengers pay for their on-board snacks and drinks.
Lufthansa started flying between Aberdeen and Frankfurt in October 2011, giving north-east passengers access to global connections through one of Europe’s busiest aviation hubs.
