Frankfurt - A ban on night flights at
Frankfurt has caused Lufthansa to withdraw its service to Cape Town this
winter, the German national airline said on Wednesday.
Imposed eight months ago, a
strict ban on flights after 23:00 leaves no leeway when it comes to weather or
medical delays and has resulted in over 10 000 passengers being stranded
overnight in Frankfurt since the ban took effect, Lufthansa manager Kay Kratky
said.
The night flight ban is an
extra headache for Lufthansa, which is currently cutting costs to battle
low-cost competition and rising fuel prices.
"Cape Town will no
longer be served from Frankfurt this winter because we can't leave our
passengers stranded," said Kratky, in charge of flight operations at
Lufthansa's passenger airlines division.
He cited the example of a
plane due to fly to Johannesburg being forced to turn round on the Franfurt
tarmac last Thursday night after a problem loading a container.
Instead, the Cape Town
flight will be shifted to Munich, which itself has been dealt a blow to
expansion plans after a proposed third runway was voted down by residents.
"Munich will start
hitting bottlenecks in three, four or five years' time," Kratky, a former
pilot, said. "But we have those problems in Frankfurt now."
Lufthansa has previously
warned the restrictions at Frankfurt could lead it to shift investment
elsewhere to seek growth. "Our ability to compete depends on being able to
scale up," Kratky said.
