It is understood that Eurowings Discover has discontinued services between Frankfurt and Panama City.
Based on data from AeroRoutes.com, the last flight operated by the carrier was on May 9 using its Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
At the time of writing, Eurowings Discover hasn’t given any indication of why this is.
Is There Demand for Frankfurt-Panama City?
Frankfurt-Panama City is a route unique in its own way and, at some point, must have had a level of demand worthy of Eurowings Discover launching services.
AviationSource approached Cirium for information on the offerings that the carrier offered from Panama City, and this is the information at the time:
- Eurowings Discover has operated 159 flights between Frankfurt and Panama City since the route began – equating to over 43,000 available seats
- The inaugural flight on this route took place on 27 March 2022
- During the one-year operations, flights have been operated by both the airline’s A330-200s and A330-300s
- Before Eurowings Discover launched this route in 2022, Lufthansa operated flights between Frankfurt and Panama City from 2016 to 2020.
Another question that needs to be asked is where the carrier will be placing three weekly flights instead.
It could very well be higher-density destinations that they know they can get the load factors higher on.
Eurowings Discover Is Performing Well…
Eurowings Discover does seem to be performing well, especially with its flights being up like-for-like compared to last year.
According to RadarBox.com, the carrier operated 34 flights between May 1-7, which represents an increase of 47.83% compared to the same period last year.
Below is the last four weeks’ worth of data from the carrier:
| Date | 2022 Numbers | 2023 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2023 vs. 2022) |
| April 3-9 | 19 movements | 35 movements | +84.21% |
| April 10-16 | 19 movements | 33 movements | +73.68% |
| April 17-23 | 21 movements | 34 movements | +61.90% |
| April 24-30 | 23 movements | 33 movements | +43.48% |
What the data shows are that Eurowings Discover has been going in the right direction since its creation last year, and ditching the likes of Frankfurt-Panama City would suggest more strategic operational thinking.
Overall…
Ultimately, this decision from Eurowings Discover isn’t a result of financial burden per se but purely from a capacity and operational point of view.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see where these three weekly routes will be placed on the route network instead of Frankfurt-Panama City.
But for now, all eyes are on the carrier to see how the rest of the Summer 2023 season will go for the carrier.
