Nearly 50% of passenger traffic in Germany is short-haul flights

Short-haul routes of up to 1,000 kilometres accounted for nearly half of all passenger traffic at Germany's main commercial airports last year, the Federal Statistical Office said.

Such flights made up 45% of all 1.5 million passenger flights, the Wiesbaden-based authority said.

The busiest short-haul route at Germany’s major airports in 2025 was the connection between Frankfurt Airport and London Heathrow, with around 11,000 passenger flights.

Domestic routes ranked next, including connections between Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt and Berlin, with just under 11,000 flights, followed by Munich with 10,700 flights and Hamburg with 10,300 flights.

Compared with the previous year's period, the number of short-haul flights fell in the first quarter of 2026 to some 137,700 flights, a 3% decline.

Strikes at Lufthansa also contributed to the decrease. Overall, the number of flights in the three months fell by 1% to 282,100.

Short-haul flights are controversial due to their effect on the climate. The Green Party's Michael Kellner, who focuses on energy policy, recently said he thinks Germany could eliminate domestic flights given possible fuel shortages.

He said this also applied to short-haul flights to European destinations abroad and private jets.