Just weeks after announcing its biggest long-haul expansion since 2020, Lufthansa has quietly scrubbed one route that never made it into the press release: a nonstop service between Munich and Hong Kong, due to return on 28 March 2027 after a seven-year absence.
The flights had already been loaded into the airline's schedule. LH730 was set to leave Munich at 10:00 PM and arrive in Hong Kong at 4:25 PM the following day, with the return leg departing at 11:05 PM — roughly 13 hours in the air on an Airbus A350-900, the same type Lufthansa flew on the route before suspending it in early 2020. A weekend schedule update removed the pairing entirely, and Lufthansa hasn't explained why.
The good news for travellers: Hong Kong isn't losing its German links. Cathay Pacific launched four weekly Munich flights (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) in mid-2025 with its own A350-900, and Lufthansa still flies daily from Frankfurt to Hong Kong on the Boeing 787-9. Cathay matches that with a daily Frankfurt service too — about 18 weekly frequencies between Germany and Hong Kong next summer in total.
Asia is clearly still a priority for Lufthansa, just from different corners of its network. The carrier is planning 76 weekly flights across 11 East Asian routes for summer 2027, including two notable revivals from Frankfurt: three weekly flights to Nagoya (Chubu Centrair) from 29 March, and daily service back to Tokyo Narita from 28 March — the first passenger flights there since 2017, when Lufthansa consolidated Tokyo flying at Haneda.
Munich isn't being neglected either. New for summer 2027 are three weekly A350 flights to Phoenix starting 3 August, plus increased frequencies to Bangalore, Chicago, São Paulo and Singapore. Lufthansa has extended its joint venture agreement with Munich Airport to 2056, plans to expand terminals there, and has made the Bavarian hub the main base for both its A380 fleet and its A350-900s — with around 6,341 A350 flights scheduled from Munich between January and October 2027, versus 1,492 from Frankfurt.
Who should care? Anyone in southern Germany or Austria who booked hopes on a direct Munich–Hong Kong flight will now need to connect via Frankfurt or fly Cathay from Munich instead. The flip side is a growing list of long-haul options from Munich itself, with more routes likely as the airport deal matures. For Hong Kong-bound travellers, competition remains healthy — you'll just be routing through Frankfurt more often.
