Lufthansa put German workers on notice of compulsory lay-offs on Thursday, saying tumbling air travel and slow progress in union negotiations meant cuts were unavoidable after it lost 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) in a single quarter.
THE AIRLINE SEES THE WORST PERFORMANCE IN ITS 65-YEAR HISTORY
The German airline, which secured a 9 billion euro state bailout in June, flew just 4 percent of prior-year passengers between April and June as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and expects capacity to increase to only around 50 percent by the end of the year and two-thirds of last year’s level in 2021.
Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said on Thursday he does not expect demand for air travel to return to pre-crisis levels until 2024, echoing a forecast last month by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
It aims to reduce 22,000 full-time jobs and said it had 8,300 fewer employees by the end of June, due mainly to people leaving jobs at its catering business and non-German businesses, which include Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.
The sharp drop in passenger numbers pushed Lufthansa to a quarterly adjusted operating loss of 1.7 billion euros, the worst performance in its 65-year history.