Ryanair is set to shuffle its Frankfurt flights back to Hahn as it leaves Germany's busiest airport at the end of March. The low-cost carrier is leaving Frankfurt's main airport at the end of March, five years after it arrived following a row with the airport over landing charges.
While it officially bears the name Frankfurt, Hahn Airport is often called out for being nowhere near its namesake city. The airport is 100km away from the city center and is actually closer to the center of Luxembourg. Despite this, it seems as though Hahn is once again set to become the focus of Ryanair's Frankfurt operations.
Services shifting back to Hahn
According to schedule data from our friends over at Cirium, Ryanair is currently operating 17 routes out of Frankfurt's primary airport. According to the data, only one of these is presently served from both Frankfurt and Hahn. This is Tenerife-Reinasofia. The remaining 16 airports are currently only served from Frankfurt International Airport.
It seems that half of the destinations being served by Ryanair from Frankfurt will be shifted across to Hahn. These are,
- ALC - Alicante, Spain
- BCN - Barcelona, Spain
- CTA - Catania, Italy
- DUB - Dublin, Ireland
- FAO - Faro, Portugal
- STN - London Stansted, United Kingdom
- BGY - Milan (Bergamo), Italy
- PMI - Palma de Mallorca
The other half of the routes are set to end from a "Frankfurt" airport for the foreseeable future. These are,
- ACE - Lanzarote, Spain
- AGP - Malaga, Spain
- ATH - Athens, Greece
- BRI - Brindisi, Italy
- FUE - Fuerteventura, Spain
- LPA - Gran Canaria, Spain
- KRK - Krakow, Poland
- VLC - Valencia, Spain
Why is Ryanair leaving Frankfurt?
Ryanair is closing its five plane base in Frankfurt over a row in about airport fees. The airline argued that the airport should be offering it special rates to incentivize aviation's recovery. Instead, the airport increased its prices, something it said was justified.
Ryanair said that it had no alternative but to leave Frankfurt Airport over the issue. The airline will operate its final flights to Germany's busiest airport on March 31st. The airline is offering all flight crew positions at its other bases across Europe.
A boon for Hahn?
While the move creates difficulties for many passengers who were happy to fly to the city of Frankfurt without needing to take a two-hour onward bus journey, it will be good news for Hahn Airport. Ryanair's Frankfurt Hahn schedule peaked in 2007 with 13,879 flights scheduled from the airport that year. Unfortunately for the airport, Ryanair has been scaling its base down ever since, with the number of flights falling every year onwards until 2020.
Ignoring the pandemic year of 2020, Hahn's last typical operational year saw just 3,524 Ryanair flights in 2019. With the reintroduction of eight services operated to and from Frankfurt Airport, Hahn is expecting more flights this year. In its current form, the Ryanair schedule contains 4,355 flights to and from Hahn, equating to 826,275 seats.
Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.
Last year Frankfurt Hahn Airport generated some controversy in the German Media. In late October, the airport was ruled insolvent by a German Court. At the time, the court appointed an administrator to see if the situation could be rectified. It has remained operational in the meantime.
What do you make of Ryanair's decision to leave Frankfurt Airport? Would you rather fly from Hahn? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!