Lufthansa is discontinuing flights between Frankfurt and Skopje after just over three years of operations, marking another network adjustment as the wider Lufthansa Group consolidates its European operations around core hub carriers.
The route had initially been scheduled to pause on June 1 before resuming on July 1. However, Lufthansa has now removed all remaining summer flights, as well as services planned for the 2026/27 winter season beginning October 25. Passengers travelling to Skopje will instead be offered alternative connections via Vienna through Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines.
Prior to its cancellation, the Frankfurt-Skopje route operated ten times per week.
Lufthansa launched the service in late April 2023 after successfully securing subsidies from the Macedonian government designed to support new air links. The incentive programme backing the route remains valid until December 30, 2025. Lufthansa was the sole operator between Frankfurt and Skopje, although Wizz Air continues to serve nearby Hahn, located roughly 125 kilometres from Frankfurt’s main airport.
The withdrawal follows significant capacity reductions already implemented on the route during the previous winter season, when Lufthansa cut operations from a planned ten weekly flights to just three weekly rotations throughout February and March.
The latest decision comes amid a broader restructuring phase for Lufthansa Group, which has been reshaping its short and medium-haul European network following industrial action, operational disruptions and the closure of its CityLine subsidiary earlier this year.
Although Lufthansa recently confirmed the return of several regional routes from Munich affected by the CityLine shutdown, the airline has since introduced further frequency reductions across parts of Southeast Europe.
Flights between Munich and Belgrade will now operate 17 to 18 times per week between July and October, down from the revised 18 to 19 weekly rotations and below last summer’s 19 to 20 weekly services.
Operations to Ljubljana have also been reduced, with Lufthansa now planning eleven weekly flights during the same period instead of the originally scheduled fourteen.
Meanwhile, Croatia Airlines is extending earlier frequency cuts on routes from Zagreb to both Skopje and Sarajevo. During June, the airline will average seven weekly flights to Skopje, compared to nine during the same month last year. Sarajevo will see nine to ten weekly rotations, down from eleven previously operated.
Croatia Airlines has already been reducing frequencies on both routes since the winter season and has introduced preliminary cuts for the upcoming winter timetable as well, with further adjustments still possible as airlines continue adapting capacity to operational and market pressures across Europe.
