It looks pointless if you think of it as a city to city route.
But it’s really not about Frankfurt to Düsseldorf traffic. It’s about feeding Frankfurt. FRA is Lufthansa’s main long haul hub, so those short hops are basically shuttle buses in the sky bringing people from DUS onto intercontinental flights.
A lot of people in Düsseldorf probably connect straight onto flights to the US, Asia, etc. Corporate contracts also play a role. Big companies book everything on one ticket, and airlines would rather keep that traffic in house instead of sending people on a train.
Is it faster to take the ICE just to get to Frankfurt? Often yes. But once you factor in through checked bags, protected connections, and corporate booking rules, the short flight makes more sense.
It’s less about the 45 minute flight and more about feeding the hub machine.
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