Sunday, August 18, 2024 Post-pandemic shifts see cities like Bangkok and Detroit lose major flights, favoring traditional hubs. Cities from Bangkok to Detroit are experiencing a decline in their roles on the international flight map as the post-pandemic surge in air travel gravitates towards more established hubs. In Southeast Asia, connections that existed before the pandemic between this region and Europe are now nearly extinct.
Airlines such as Philippine Airlines Inc., Garuda Indonesia, and Thai Airways International Pcl have drastically reduced their European flights. Cities like Manila and Jakarta no longer have direct flights to London, Kuala Lumpur has lost its direct link to Frankfurt, and the route from Bangkok to Rome has disappeared, according to the latest data from Cirium.
Singapore remains an exception, maintaining better connectivity, especially highlighted as it hosts a major air show. This trend is mirrored in the United States, where cities like Detroit and even Washington, D.C.
, are witnessing a reduction in direct routes to Europe. For instance, Fort Lauderdale, which once boasted over 50 direct flights monthly to London and Paris, now has none. These vanishing connections highlight the uneven recovery in the airline industry post-pandemic.
While some hubs like Singapore and New York are thriving, becoming more interconnected than ever, many other cities are facing a cutback in services. This is partly due to the industry’s ongoing challenges such as sh.