In late October, the German government announced a series of new restrictions on businesses and issued strong advice to citizens to avoid non-essential travel to combat rising coronavirus cases.
FlixTrain resumed operation on July 23 following a four-month suspension since March 19. The operator saw a rapid return to high levels of passenger numbers, with trains often full at weekends during summer 2020.
However, unlike its principal competitor German Rail (DB), Flixtrain has received no funding from the German government other than an employee furlough funding scheme available to all businesses affected by the pandemic.
During the first shutdown FlixTrain parted company with its partner RDC Germany, which operated two FlixTrain routes from Cologne to Berlin and Hamburg. Since then, the operator has also ended ties with Leo Express, its other partner, which operated services on the Stuttgart - Berlin route.
