aviation: Corendon again shortens the 2023 summer flight schedule from the DA-CH region

The airline Corendon will be shorter in the 2023 summer flight schedule and fewer criminal offenses will be active in German-speaking countries. Already this year, numerous routes were discontinued at very short notice or not included at all. An internal circular recently announced that things will be slower in the summer of 2023.

Corendon and its Malta offshoot Corendon Europe attempted a strong expansion in the summer of 2022. This has been done in particular with the help of wet lease aircraft, but it is a very expensive undertaking as the subcontractor has to be paid – no matter how many passengers are on board. One does not want to admit it openly to Corendon in part, but one has obviously misjudged and raised oneself. Management may have pulled the ripcord soon. Incidentally, there has been no talk of long-haul flights with Airbus A330s from Airhub Airlines for a long time. The aircraft concerned is no longer in service for Corendon. Both companies do not want to comment on this fact.

A few weeks ago, an internal circular announced that the Turkish group of companies, which has flight operations in Turkey, the Netherlands and Malta, would be less expansive in the summer of 2023. The employees were also informed that fewer wet lease aircraft would be used and that numerous routes would no longer be reactivated. Anything that hasn’t yet fallen victim to red pen is under scrutiny. For Corendon, it is now the profit that counts, because further expensive expansion maneuvers are no longer or cannot be afforded.

Many cancellations from Basel and German airports

In the 2023 summer timetable, Corendon will offer significantly fewer flights from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. No more aircraft will be stationed in Basel in the future, but based on the current state of affairs, they will only head for EuroAirport from Antalya. The destinations Rhodes, Izmir, Kos, Hurghada, Heraklion, Corfu, Bodrum and Chania, which were still for sale until recently, are no longer available.

Since Germany is the largest market for Corendon and Corendon Europe to date, the cuts here are particularly extensive. In Düsseldorf, Fes, Faro, Dalaman, Chania, Lamezia Terme, Olbia, Ibiza and Gaziantep, among others, are included in the programme. In Hanover, for example, Olbia, Lamezia Terme, Faro, Catania and Agadir are omitted. In the summer of 2023, Cologne/Bonn will no longer set course for Tel Aviv, Tangier, Nador, Faro and Chania.

The cutbacks don’t stop at Nuremberg either, which is particularly important because it has a sponsorship agreement with 1. FC Nuremberg. Thessaloniki, Olbia, Lamezia Terme, Ibiza, Faro, Agadir and Chania have been cancelled. Furthermore, the Turkish airline Corendon will no longer fly to/from Bodrum from Zurich, Vienna, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin.

Further deletions could also affect Graz, Linz and Vienna

The previous « string concert » may not be over for a long time. Numerous other routes are currently marked as « sold out ». When it comes to cancellations, the Corendon Group’s reluctance to communicate is an indication that the route is acutely on the brink and will be completely deleted from the reservation system shortly thereafter. Specifically, it is about the Rhodes flights offered by Corendon Europe from Graz, Linz, Rostock-Laage and Stuttgart as well as the connections operated by the Turkish sister company from Kayseri to Vienna, Stuttgart, Munich and Hamburg.