A process for the dehydrogenation of alkanes. In several reactors of the adiabatic, allothermal or isothermal type or combinations thereof a gaseous alkane-containing material stream is passed through a catalyst bed in continuous operating mode. The gas stream produced contains an alkene, hydrogen and a non-converted alkane. In order to achieve a constant product composition, at least one of the process parameters of temperature, pressure or steam/hydrocarbon ratio is recorded in the form of measured values at one or several points of at least one of the reactors, where at least one of the process parameters is selectively controlled and influenced such that the composition of the product gas at the outlet of one reactor remains constant throughout the operating period.