In 2025, 652,000 short-haul flights with passenger carriage originated or terminated at major German transport airports, according to data released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Tuesday. These trips, defined as having a maximum distance of 1,000 kilometers, accounted for 45% of the total 1.5 million passenger flights recorded that year. The vast majority of these short-haul journeys were international, with 82% of flights taking passengers abroad.
Conversely, 55% of all passenger flights at German main airports in 2025 covered a distance exceeding 1,000 kilometers. The destination or origin countries for these long-haul flights were predominantly European (76%), followed by Asia (10%), the Americas (8%), and Africa (7%).
When examining the first quarter of 2026, 137,700 passenger flights covered short distances of less than 1,000 kilometers. This represented a three percent decrease compared to the same period in 2025, which saw 141,800 such flights. Notably, the figure for this period was slightly higher than that recorded in the first quarter of 2024 (138,900 short-haul flights). Overall, the total number of passenger flights across the entire first quarter of 2026 was also slightly down, registering 282,100 flights compared to 284,400 in Q1 2025 (a 1% decrease).
In 2025, the most frequent short-haul route at German major airports was between Frankfurt am Main and London-Heathrow, totaling 11,000 passenger flights. Other high-traffic routes included the domestic connection between Frankfurt am Main and Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (nearly 11,000 flights), Munich and Frankfurt am Main (10,700 flights), and Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg (10,300 flights).
In a broader European context, Eurostat reported in 2024 that within EU member states, air travel served as the primary mode for 48% of all international journeys lasting at least one night. For shorter trips ranging from one to three nights, airplanes were used by 30% of travelers. Among longer vacations spanning four or more nights, flying was the main mode of transport for 55% of holidays. However, for domestic vacations lasting at least one night within the EU, only two percent of citizens used airplanes as their primary method of travel.
