Bangkok, Florida lose as airlines axe less frequented routes

Cities around the world from Bangkok to Detroit are fading from international flight networks as the post-Covid travel boom funnels traffic into more traditional hubs. Across Southeast Asia, pre-pandemic links with Europe have all but vanished as Philippine Airlines Inc., Garuda Indonesia and Thai Airways International Pcl cut flights. Manila and Jakarta, for example, have no direct services to London anymore, Kuala Lumpur has lost access to Frankfurt, and the Bangkok-Rome connection has evaporated, according to February schedules from aviation data provider Cirium. Only Singapore, host to a major air show that kicks off Tuesday, is better connected. The services that have survived to key European destinations are almost all operating less frequently. It’s a similar picture in America, where residents in Detroit or even the capital Washington find themselves with fewer pathways to Europe. In Florida, Fort Lauderdale had more than 50 direct flights a month to London and Paris five years ago, most of them operated by Marabu Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. Now the city has none, the Cirium data show. The disappearing connections for hundreds of millions of people belie the broader recovery in air travel since the pandemic. The holes in the route network reflect systemic challenges facing the industry: Airlines can’t get their hands on enough new aircraft or spare parts to meet passenger demand. At the same time, rising costs are squeezing carriers’ margins, forcing them to scrap routes that were economically viable before Covid.<br/>