Analysis – Hamburg-Stuttgart: an air route that challenges the train

Purely domestic German air traffic has been declining for years. When it comes to shifting potential further towards rail, traffic to and from hubs and the rail problem with lack of connection guarantees are often considered. There is movement in the situation here, little by little it will Extended offer via Lufthansa Express Rail, for example.

In the purely domestic German market, however, there are also some conspicuous routes. airliners.de wants to take a closer look at one of these routes, because it is something special in the discussion about switching to rail. We are talking about the Hamburg-Stuttgart air link. In the air, it’s about 550 kilometers away. By car, the route is 650 kilometers long, the train covers over 700 kilometers, depending on the route.

This makes the connection one of the longest domestic German connections. The plane is in the air for 1:20 hours, the car takes seven to eight hours, and the train currently takes more than five hours to report. According to the federal government, however, Hamburg-Stuttgart should become much faster and therefore more attractive. With the implementation of the German clock, the travel time should be reduced to 4:13 hours.

But will it be enough to attract air travelers to the train?

High demand for flights HAM STR

The combination of several factors has meant that, at least so far, many people want to fly between these cities. DLR data from 2019 to 2021, available on airliners.de, show how active the connection was even during the pandemic.

Before the pandemic, just over 1,000 passengers used the connection every day in each direction. During Corona, the demand has dropped to around a quarter. According to preliminary data, around 80,000 passengers flew back and forth between cities in 2021.