The corona crisis is the coffin nail for Germanwings
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Lufthansa was completely hit by the corona crisis. The group has to rebuild and dismantle – and therefore buries its Cologne subsidiary Germanwings. However, the employees should be saved.
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The German airline group is shrinking its fleet for the first time in the company’s history. Up to 80 airplanes will be canceled and Germanwings will cease operations. A rule of thumb gives an idea of how many jobs are now at stake.
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Dhe Lufthansa is switching from growth to shrinking. The leading airline group in Europe is now drastically reducing its aircraft fleet because it will no longer anticipate as much demand as it did before the Corona crisis. In a measure described as the “first restructuring package”, the decommissioning of numerous aircraft is announced. The bottom line is that the airline will cut about ten percent of its total capacity, which corresponds to the loss of around 70 to 80 aircraft in the total fleet of 760 aircraft, a spokesman said.
It is noteworthy that the airline does not expect a rapid recovery as in previous crises in the aviation industry, for example after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Around 700 of the approximately 760 aircraft are currently out of service due to the lack of bookings due to global travel restrictions. Frankfurt Airport recently reported a 95 percent drop in passenger numbers.
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It is now becoming clear that some of the disused aircraft will never again take off for the Lufthansa Group. The question of the financial security of the airline is still open, for example through high government loans worth billions or possibly also a state participation.
According to the plans now submitted, the Lufthansa Group is shrinking its wide-body aircraft fleet by 21 models. These include six aircraft from the 14 giant A380s that are still flying, which are not only mothballed, but are now being finally sorted out. There are also five Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets and seven Airbus A340-600s. The A340-400 and the older jumbos are being decommissioned against the background of the poorer ecological balance sheet and economy of these models.
220 jobs per wide-body aircraft
At the low-cost subsidiary Eurowings, the number of aircraft is also reduced and ten Airbus A320s are sorted out. A total of 21 short-haul aircraft will be handed over to the group. There are also planes that were previously rented. These so-called wet lease contracts have been terminated.
The cuts at Lufthansa reach practically all areas, including the subsidiary airlines such as Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines. Germanwings’ flight operations with 30 aircraft, which previously carried passengers for Eurowings, will also be terminated. “All resulting options should be discussed with the social partners,” says a company announcement without further explanation.
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An order of magnitude over the number of employees affected by the measures is not mentioned. There should be several thousand, because according to a rule of thumb in the industry, about 220 workplaces from crew to ground catering are connected to a wide-body aircraft.
As the airline says, as many of the employees affected by the conversion should be offered continued employment within the Lufthansa Group. Discussions should also begin quickly on “new employment models to secure as many jobs as possible”. The Lufthansa Group currently has around 135,000 employees, of whom 87,000 have been registered for short-time work.
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