RESEARCH Air/Rail Intermodality – Recent Experiences from Germany

This paper tries to explore recent developments in Germany, where an integrated intermodal product, the so-called AIRail, offers unique service features, like integrated ticketing and baggage handling, which is so far only known in the air transport industry.A new approach to integrate air and rail servic- es was undertaken with AIRail, which has achieved considerable success so far, as more than 170,000 passengers per year use this service. Characteristics and advantages of AIRail will be explored in the rest of the paper, but also shortcomings and challenges that can be identified. Furthermore, special attention will be given to the impact of high-speed train services between Frankfurt and on air services between these cities.

By Wolfgang Grimme

Background Airport Express”, as early as 1982 inaugurated several months before, To increase the benefits of the trans- (until 1993), connecting both which reduced travel time between port system or infrastructure, policy- Düsseldorf (via Cologne) and both cities tremendously. The service makers often demand a better integra- with . These services features integrated ticketing and bag- tion of the various modes of trans- were discontinued for several reasons, gage handling. The latter point is par- portation. For environmental reasons the most notable probably being con- ticularly important to gain passenger and to relieve congested airports, a siderable increases of leasing rates by acceptance for rail services. With shift of short-distance feeder air serv- the train operator, which Lufthansa AIRail, baggage is checked through ices to rail is a frequently expressed was not willing to pay. Another prob- from the Lufthansa-branded check-in objective in transport policy. However, lem was the difficulty to achieve a counter in Cologne or Stuttgart main as a prerequisite to the market success high load factor of a fully dedicated station directly to the final destination of such ideas, it is necessary that rail train, which offered only few daily fre- and vice versa. transport providers offer attractive quencies and considerably longer jour- products for passengers to create an ney times than air travel. However, this service is particularly incentive to choose rail services over challenging for the participating serv- short-distance air services. Forced A new approach to integrate air and ice providers for several reasons. First, modal shifts by command-and-control rail services was undertaken with the new ICE 3 high-speed trains do not regulatory instruments are incompati- AIRail, which has achieved consider- feature baggage compartments. ble with liberal market economy able success so far, as more than Therefore, a passenger compartment is regimes. They tend to reduce con- 170,000 passengers per year use this converted in a “quick change” config- sumer welfare and should therefore be service. Characteristics and advan- uration to carry baggage on the AIRail abandoned in favor of more market- tages of AIRail will be explored in the segment of the journey, which is asso- oriented measures. The attractiveness rest of the paper, but also shortcom- ciated with a loss of 10 seats that could of intermodal products has to be ings and challenges that can be identi- otherwise be used for paying passen- increased with regards to both price fied. Furthermore, special attention gers. The second challenge is associat- and journey time, as well as conven- will be given to the impact of high- ed with ’s very dense ience. speed train services between Frankfurt and synchronized timetable, requiring and Cologne on air services between the loading and unloading of baggage This paper tries to explore recent these cities. during the brief stops not to exceed 4 developments in Germany, where an minutes. Baggage is transported in integrated intermodal product, the so- AIRail Service Characteristics closed containers on wheels from the called AIRail, offers unique service AIRail, jointly developed by Deutsche platform at Frankfurt Airport to securi- features, like integrated ticketing and Bahn, Lufthansa and Fraport, can be ty screening and the baggage handling baggage handling, which is so far only considered as the most advanced inter- system which was extended for this known in the air transport industry. modal product available to travelers in purpose into the airport’s new long- The idea, however, to operate a train Germany, if not in Europe. It was distance train station. Thirdly, baggage with the service characteristics of air introduced on the route between of passengers who started their jour- transport is not new. Deutsche Frankfurt Airport and Stuttgart in ney outside Germany is required to be Bundesbahn operated a dedicated train March 2001 and between Frankfurt cleared by customs. For this purpose, service on behalf of Deutsche Airport and Cologne in May 2003 small customs offices have been set up Lufthansa, the so-called “Lufthansa after the high-speed train line had been at the train stations of Cologne and

Aerlines Magazine e-zine edition, Issue 34 1 Stuttgart, so passengers can clear their which have made AIRail a well- flights prefer air transport due to bet- baggage directly at the train station. accepted alternative to feeder flights, ter accessibility of the airports of there are also a number of challenges Cologne and Stuttgart by car and due A total of 15 regular trains per day in and problems associated with the to lower parking fees at the airports each direction between Frankfurt service. First, it is a rather complicat- than at the main train stations. As Airport and Cologne are designated as ed and costly process when a foreign both Cologne/Bonn and Frankfurt AIRail trains as well as 7 trains airline wants to make use of the Airport are directly connected by between Stuttgart and Frankfurt AIRail service. Interested airlines high-speed train this may lead to the Airport, therefore offering passengers have to apply for approval at their idea to offer AIRail from a wide range of frequencies, resulting home country’s civil aviation author- Cologne/Bonn Airport instead of or in in reduced waiting time for connecting ity, as AIRail is a deviation from stan- addition to the services from the main flights. On average, about 31 seats in dard security procedures found in train station. Apart from increased 2nd class for economy class passen- international aviation. Second, AIRail customer acceptance this would also gers and 6 seats in 1st class for busi- cannot be booked on Lufthansa’s own help to save costs as check-in and ness and first class passengers are website caused by technical problems customs facilities are already avail- reserved on each train designated as with the booking engine of able at the airport. However, this AIRail service. In total, this results in Lufthansa. This inadvertently creates would require an increase in train fre- an available AIRail capacity of 555 incentives for internet users to book a quencies between the two airports seats per day or about 200,000 seats feeder flight instead of the AIRail from its three services daily at the per year on the Cologne-Frankfurt service. This fact becomes even more moment of which two are operated route, with slightly less than half of curious as it is possible to book very early in the morning and one this quantity for the Stuttgart- AIRail on other internet-based travel very late in the evening. It may be Frankfurt route. The “blocked space” agents such as Opodo. Third, it is sufficient to offer four daily services, agreement of Lufthansa with Deutsche rather difficult for foreign travel equal to the current number of flights Bahn has evident advantages over the agents, who are not familiar with the which could arrive at/depart from lease and operation of a complete train different intermodal products avail- Frankfurt Airport synchronized with as it was done with the “Lufthansa able in Germany, to identify the serv- Lufthansa’s flight banks. Airport Express” from 1982 to 1993. ice characteristics of AIRail in com- On the one hand, it is possible to offer parison to other intermodal products, Case study: more frequencies and on the other most notably code-share agreements Impacts of the high-speed rail- hand, it is less difficult to achieve that Deutsche Bahn maintains with way line on air services between higher load factors. Moreover, the American Airlines, All Nippon Cologne and Frankfurt agreement between Deutsche Bahn Airways, China Airlines and TAP The city pair Cologne-Frankfurt seems and Lufthansa is flexible so that the Portugal. While code-share services to be a perfect example for the benefits number of available seats can be include more destinations than of a shift from short distance air serv- adapted to demand on short notice. AIRail, these services do not feature ices to railway. Since 2002 Germany’s through-baggage handling and are fastest high-speed line has reduced The AIRail service is not limited to therefore less attractive for passen- railway travel times from Cologne passengers traveling on Lufthansa. A gers. Traditional booking engines and main station to Frankfurt Airport from total of 27 other airlines have agree- computer reservation systems are not two hours to 50 minutes. Comparing ments with Lufthansa to use the able to display additional information this to the travel time by air, taking AIRail service to feed passengers to about the exact service characteristics into account the time needed for the of code-share trains. Although it transfer to the airport, for check-in, Frankfurt Airport. For the participat- seems that these challenges may be security checks, boarding, the actual ing airlines, this service has clear overcome quite easily, they are, in flight and deboarding it seemed ques- advantages, as they do not have to pro- fact, rooted in an incompatibility of tionable if there was a future for air vide own check-in agents at the train the information technology systems services on this city pair. The follow- stations and they also do not need to of railway operators and airlines and ing analysis, mainly based on German create an interface between the air- in the rather uncommon combination air transport statistics, should give an lines’ and Deutsche Bahn’s reservation of the two modes for one integrated insight on the developments of air and inventory systems, as Lufthansa product. Therefore, these problems services before and after the inaugura- provides this gateway function. are indeed difficult and expensive to tion of the high-speed railway line. solve. Besides an attractive number of fre- Traditionally, the route Cologne- quencies, short travel times and con- Besides the more technical obstacles Frankfurt has been one of the shortest for passengers to find information on distances flown in Germany, as both venient baggage services, another AIRail and to book actual AIRail airports are only 136 kilometers apart. incentive for AIRail passengers is the journeys, other reasons have been Figure 1 shows the number of seats fact that they receive the same amount found that limit the acceptance of offered and the number of passengers of frequent flyer miles as they would AIRail. Anecdotal evidence suggests flying between Cologne and Frankfurt have when using a feeder flight. that passengers that still use feeder from 1989 to 2006. Besides these positive characteristics,

Aerlines Magazine e-zine edition, Issue 34 2 Figure 1: Seats offered and passengers on air services between Cologne and Frankfurt Source: Own representation based on data of the German Air Transport Statistics.

From the early 1990s up to 2001, the have fallen from an average of 60% to of the use of slots in Frankfurt. This number of passengers was consistent- less than 50% in 2005. There is still a airport is heavily constrained and ly between 150,000 and 170,000 annu- marginal residuum of origin/destina- operates at its capacity limits during ally. Included in this number are pas- tion passengers of about 10% of total most time of the day. Therefore it is sengers connecting in Frankfurt to passengers or about 5,000 passengers hardly possible for Lufthansa to another flight, as well as passengers annually. expand its network from Frankfurt. It traveling on the city pair Cologne- is likely that a substitution of the Frankfurt only. The latter group of Under these circumstances, it is indeed Cologne-Frankfurt route for new long- passengers amounted to a significant questionable whether air services haul services would have positive eco- number, as in the 1990s 20-25% of between Frankfurt and Cologne will nomic impacts for Lufthansa, even passengers flying between Frankfurt be viable in future. So far, Lufthansa when taking into account a limited, and Cologne were origin/destination has argued that these services are espe- although possible loss of premium passengers on this city pair. During the cially needed to retain premium pas- passengers who do not accept the 1990s, Lufthansa offered between four sengers that are not willing to change AIRail service. Secondly, opportunity to seven daily services, with an aver- to the AIRail service. In addition to the costs of crews and aircraft currently age aircraft size between 105 and 133 abovementioned problems of asym- used for the Cologne-Frankfurt route seats, mainly Boeing 737-300 and - metric information and relatively should also be taken into account. It is 500 and in peak times also A320s. inconvenient access to train stations likely that the use of these aircraft Figure 1 shows the dramatic impact of by car, the reluctance of some passen- somewhere else in Lufthansa’s net- the inauguration of the high-speed line gers to use the train may also be work could create positive returns, between Cologne and Frankfurt in explained by the relatively bad image which cannot be currently generated 2002. The demand for air services was Deutsche Bahn has among Germans, when looking only at the revenues further reduced by the introduction of while for some foreign travelers, for attributable to Cologne-Frankfurt and AIRail in 2003. The number of avail- instance from North America, rail at the disproportionately high costs per able seats was reduced from more than travel is not in their evoked set of trav- available seat kilometer on this subop- 250,000 to slightly more than 100,000 el alternatives at all. timal stage length. Thirdly, the strate- annually, by means of a reduction in gic situation at Cologne/Bonn Airport frequencies to a maximum of four per However, there are several arguments has changed considerably in the last day and a reduction in average aircraft which would favor the discontinuation few years. As this airport is dominated size to 73 seats. The number of pas- of air services between Cologne and now by low-cost carriers, several tra- sengers has fallen from more than Frankfurt. Firstly, Lufthansa should ditional network carriers have with- 150,000 to just 50,000. Load factors take into account the opportunity costs drawn from the airport. This can be

Aerlines Magazine e-zine edition, Issue 34 3 attributed to the fact that yields on ori- intermodality, the prestigious maglev Bibliography gin/destination markets have eroded train connection to be built between Commission of the European and a “degradation” of services mere- Munich main station and the airport Communities: White Paper European ly to feed the hubs of the respective will be of very limited use for an transport policy 2010: time to decide, airlines is not seen to be economically AIRail service, as it will be an isolated COM(2001) 370 final, Brussels 2001. viable. After the withdrawal of Air application on a short distance only. France, Alitalia and – most recently in DG TREN: COST 318: Interactions Intermodal products with through- early 2006 – British Airways, between High-Speed Rail and Air baggage handling from e.g. Stuttgart Lufthansa faces only KLM as the last Passenger Transport, Brussels/Luxemburg, major European network carrier serv- or Nuremburg would require an addi- 1998. ing Cologne/Bonn. Therefore, the tional baggage transshipping process strategic risks of losing passengers at Munich main station, raising com- Dionori, F./Durbin, B./Chan, E./Tejedor, that do not accept AIRail to other car- plexity and costs and reducing attrac- E./Grimme, W./Vellay, C./Smith, S.: Air riers can be considered very limited. tiveness for passengers. and Rail Competition and Furthermore, it is highly likely that the Complementarity Case Study Report, frequent-flyer program of Lufthansa Nevertheless, interesting opportunities Study Commissioned by the European and the opportunity to accrue miles on for international train services with Commission, DG TREN, 2006. the AIRail segment of a journey will integrated ticketing and baggage han- retain loyal Lufthansa passengers even dling for air connections may emerge Eichinger, A./Knorr, A.: Potentials and without air services between Frankfurt in the future with the extension of Limitations of Air-Rail Links – A General and Cologne. cross-border high-speed train lines Overview, in: Knorr et al. (Ed.): Materialien that are currently planned or built des Wissenschaftsschwerpunktes Conclusion under the Trans-European Networks “Globalisierung der Weltwirtschaft”, The analysis has shown that AIRail is (TEN) initiative of the European Volume 34, September 2004, Bremen. an attractive product, offering a num- Commission. Amsterdam airport for ber of incentives for passengers to instance currently already attracts a Freitag, S.: Mit dem Zug zum Flug: Ein switch from air to rail. However, it has significant number of passengers from Überblick über die Rail&Fly-Angebote in also been shown that the process to the north-western part of Germany. Deutschland, in: Touristik aktuell, p.37, introduce and operate the system is Therefore, it may be conceivable to 12.06.2006. complex and expensive. The first pre- operate a train with the service charac- requisite to achieve a high level of cus- teristics of AIRail between Cologne, IATA Air Transport Consultancy Services tomer acceptance is through baggage Düsseldorf and Amsterdam-Schiphol (Ed.): Air/Rail Intermodality Study Final handling, which requires the establish- to substitute or at least complement Report, Commissioned by the European ment of check-in, customs and bag- KLM’s feeder flights from the respec- Commission, Airports Council gage handling facilities at train sta- tive airports. International-Europe, Air Transport Action tions. This in turn requires a high level Group, Community of European Railways of daily passenger throughput to be Finally, it has to be noted that the and International Union of Railways, economically viable. In case of objective of transport policy to elimi- February 2003, Hounslow. Cologne more than 10,000, in the case nate short-distance air services with of Stuttgart about 5,000 travelers per the help of an attractive intermodal Smith, S., Chan, E./Wainwright, S.: Air month use AIRail at the moment. product has not been achieved with and Rail Competition and AIRail. In fact, only 2-3 daily slot Complementarity Final Report, Study However, the decisive prerequisite to pairs at Frankfurt have been released Commissioned by the European offer attractive intermodal products is for alternative use due to the reduction Commission, DG TREN, 2006. the availability of high-speed train in frequencies between Cologne/Bonn and Frankfurt. This compares to 4 About the author lines to achieve competitive travel daily slot pairs still in use for this Air Transport and Airport Research times and the integration of airports extreme short-distance route. Between Unit into the high-speed train network. Stuttgart and Frankfurt, Lufthansa still German Aerospace Center DLR, While travel demand would be suffi- operates 6 daily frequencies and Cologne cient, the former problem is an obsta- equipment with a size of up to 150 Email: [email protected] cle to introduce AIRail in Nuremburg seats. This fact is an indication that an and Düsseldorf to connect these cities expansion of AIRail to other city pairs with Frankfurt Airport. The latter is likely to have only a very limited problem impedes the connection of positive impact to relieve capacity Nuremburg and Stuttgart with Munich constraints at hub airports. Airport by AIRail, as this airport is only served by regional trains and the Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Prof. newly-built high-speed line between Dr. Hansjochen Ehmer and an anony- Munich and Nuremburg does not run mous reviewer for their helpful com- via the airport. From the perspective of ments.

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