Due to the corona virus crisis, capacity on short- and medium-haul flights can be reduced by up to a quarter in the next few weeks. Short-time work is under examination.
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The Lufthansa Group is now part of the range of airlines that are also reducing their European offerings due to the corona virus crisis. For example, Wizzair recently announced this. Measures were taken for the Lufthansa Group on Friday to minimize the economic damage to the Group airlines.
According to this, the offer of short- and medium-haul flights can be reduced by up to a quarter in the coming weeks, depending on the further development in the spread of the corona virus. The airlines in the Lufthansa Group are also further reducing their program for long-haul connections. The number of long-haul jets not used in the calculations will increase from 13 to up to 23 aircraft. The group operates a total of around 200 widebodies – more than 10 percent will be temporarily shut down.
On Friday evening, there was not yet much information about which connections would be reduced or discontinued. However, Swiss has already announced that it will reduce frequencies to and from Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice by the end of March 2020.
In addition to reducing the number of flights on offer, the group is also examining the possibility of short-time work in various areas. Austrian Airlines announced two days ago that it would send 150 to 200 employees on unpaid vacation.
The extent to which current developments will impact on the result cannot yet be estimated. However, at the annual press conference on March 19, 2020, the group will publish key financial figures and an assessment of the economic consequences of the spread of the corona virus in Europe for the Lufthansa Group.
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