Hamburg’s economic senator Melanie Leonhard expects the Fehmarnbelt tunnel to intensify competition for airline passengers on the Hamburg-Copenhagen corridor. The planned rail link is due to cut travel time between the two cities to about two and a half hours, making Copenhagen airport a more attractive long-haul gateway for travellers from northern Germany.
Leonhard linked the faster connection to a possible shift in travel patterns, with more passengers choosing train plus departure from Copenhagen instead of connecting via Frankfurt or other German hubs. That would put additional pressure on Hamburg Airport’s role in the region’s air-travel market, especially for long-haul journeys. The tunnel is still under construction, so the effect remains a forecast rather than a confirmed change in demand.
Hamburg outbound long-haul passengers currently rely heavily on hub-and-spoke traffic through major airports such as Frankfurt. If rail access to Copenhagen improves as planned, the Danish capital’s airport could draw a larger share of premium and intercontinental traffic from the Hamburg metropolitan area. The remarks underline how the fixed link between Germany and Denmark could reshape airline competition well before the tunnel opens.