From March 2024, Lufthansa gave up the Cluj-Frankfurt and Timișoara-Frankfurt routes, the reasons being of a commercial and technical nature. Lufthansa, like many other airlines, had to take out of operational service the Airbus A320 family planes equipped with Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM engines.
An average of 20 Lufthansa Group aircraft will be on the ground at any one time in 2024 as inspections of the PW1100G-JM engines from US manufacturer Pratt & Whitney are required. The problem with the engines of the Airbus 320 aircraft was also confirmed by the director of Cluj Airport.
US manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has recalled about 1.000 jet engines sold worldwide after discovering contamination in the metal used to make certain engine parts, which could cause cracks.
Once the fleet was reduced, Lufthansa had to adjust its operational schedule according to the profitability of the routes. Conformable monitorulcj.ro, a spokesman for the German company stated that several flights, including those between Frankfurt to Cluj-Napoca and those to Timișoara "have not shown any positive economic development in recent months".
As an alternative, Lufthansa will continue to fly from Cluj and Timisoara to Munich, and from March 28 there will be direct flights Cluj – Zurich with Swiss!