Lufthansa — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021
We put together some of the most relevant data about Lufthansa’s flight performance in 2021: Flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked the airline’s flight performance against regional and global averages. Here’s what’s contained in detail:
Flight Analysis
Monthly Flight Overview
Global & Europen Ranking By Number of Flights
Pre-COVID Benchmark
Flight Punctuality
Monthly Punctuality Overview
Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
Flight Cancellations
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate
Lufthansa — Flight Analysis
We kick off the analysis with details about Lufthansa’s flights from February to June 2021. Then, on top of the overall numbers, we also provide details about the airline’s share in terms of EMEA traffic and the carrier’s ranking compared to other European and global airlines. So let’s get into it!
Monthly Flight Overview
Corona has massively impacted Lufthansa’s operations. As a result, compared to normal operations, the German airline performed a tiny amount of flights at the beginning of the year. However, Lufthansa has been able to increase the monthly number of flights constantly. Germany’s flag carrier has grown from 5,700 flights in February to more than 16,000 flights in June.
| Month | No. Flights | vs. prev. Month |
|---|---|---|
| February | 5,705 | |
| March | 8,233 | 44.3%  |
| April | 10,590 | 28.6% |
| May | 12,688 | 19.8% |
| June | 16,088 | 26.7% |
| Avg. ’21 | 10,660 |
Although Lufthansa’s number of flights has grown steadily, its share in terms of overall EMEA traffic hasn’t increased during the entire period. Whereas Lufthansa could grow its share from 2.7% in February to almost 4% in May, the value decreased in June. This is a fascinating figure. Since Lufthansa’s share decreased in June, although the airline operated 26.7% more flights, other carriers seem to rebound quicker.
Global & European Ranking By Number of Flights
Again due to COVID, Lufthansa ranked 48th among the world’s biggest airlines by flights. Nevertheless, the carrier has managed to improve its position constantly and ranked 21st in June. Compared to other airlines from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Lufthansa has struggled to enter the top 3. In June, Ryanair (38,000), Turkish Airlines (26,000), Aeroflot (23,000), and Air France (22,000) operated more flights than the German carrier.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 1 | 11 | 48 |
| March | 1 | 9 | 41 |
| April | 1 | 4 | 28 |
| May | 1 | 4 | 22 |
| June | 1 | 5 | 21 |
| Average ’21 | 1 | 6,6 | 32 |
Pre-COVID Benchmark
Besides the comparison to other airlines and the development during the last months, it is essential to compare this year’s flight figures to pre-COVID results. Sadly, this shows how far Lufthansa (And of course other airlines too) is aways from its pre-COVID level. Compared to February 2019, Lufthansa operated almost 35,000 fewer flights in February 2021. In other words, Lufthansa operated 14% of the flights it had operated in 2019. However, go to see that Lufthansa’s traffic is slowly recovering. In June, Lufthansa operated 34.5% of flights compared to June 2019.
| Month | Flights 2021 | Flights 2019 | ’21 vs. ’19 (abs) | ’21 vs. ’19 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | 5,705 | 40,575 | 34,870  | 85.9 |
| March | 8,233 | 46,096 | 37,863 | 82.1 |
| April | 10,590 | 45,523 | 34,933 | 76.1 |
| May | 12,688 | 49,129 | 36,441 | 74.1 |
| June | 16,088 | 46,690 | 30,602 | 65.5 |
| Avg. ’21 | 10,660 | 45,602 | 34,941 | 76.8 |
Lufthansa – Flight Punctuality
In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at Lufthansa’s flight performance regarding punctuality. Again, we benchmark the airline’s results with EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.
Monthly Puncutality Overview
Despite the relatively low number of flights, Lufthansa hasn’t achieved superior punctuality from February to June. On the contrary, Lufthansa’s average on-time performance is only slightly better than the EMEA average. Also, compared to other big carriers (Ryanair >92%, Aeroflot >92%, KLM >90%), Lufthansa’s results in terms of punctuality seem to have room for optimization.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lufthansa | 78.6% | 85.6% | 88.9% | 86.7% | 84.9% | 84.9% |
| EMEA Average | 73.9% | 85.7% | 85.6% | 85.2% | 83.6% | 82.8% |
Lufthansa Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
Based on the weak performance, Lufthansa ranks in the midfield from a global point of view. Moreover, compared to EMEA airlines, Lufthansa ranks on positions >50.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 2 | 50 | 118 |
| March | 2 | 53 | 111 |
| April | 3 | 43 | 84 |
| May | 3 | 56 | 100 |
| June | 4 | 64 | 108 |
| Average ’21 | 2.8 | 53.2 | 104.2 |
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Lufthansa Flight Cancellations
In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at Lufthansa’s flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.
Monthly Cancellation Overview
In terms of flight cancellations, Lufthansa achieved very good results. The German airline managed to operate its flights with a cancellation rate below 1%. Moreover, in March, April, and June, Lufthansa’s cancellation rate was a shallow level of 0.2%. Therefore, compared to the EMEA average, Lufthansa’s results are 3.5 pp. better.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lufthansa | 0.8% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| EMEA Average | 6.8% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 4.0% | 3.6% | 3.9% |
Lufthansa Flights — European Ranking by Cancellations
Compared to EMEA and global airlines, the airline achieved solid results: Globally, Lufthansa ranks 59th and EMEA-wise on position 34 on average.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 2 | 31 | 60 |
| March | 2 | 27 | 46 |
| April | 2 | 25 | 48 |
| May | 3 | 46 | 80 |
| June | 3 | 42 | 63 |
| Average ’21 | 2.4 | 34.2 | 59.4 |
Used Data
The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 280 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.
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