Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) is cancelling every tenth flight it has arranged for its Summer 2023 schedules, equivalent to around 34,000 flights for the Lufthansa brand alone for the summer half-year, valid from March 26 to October 29, WirtschaftsWoche reported.
A spokesman for the carrier told the German business weekly that “Lufthansa has adjusted the 2023 summer flight schedule from Frankfurt International and Munich” and warned that “further daily deletions can always be added.” He did not want to comment on the exact number cancellations.
He conceded that the number could grow still further as cuts at subsidiaries such as Eurowings, Brussels Airlines, or Swiss may also be inevitable. Eurowings told the weekly that the schedules are constantly being adjusted “but the changes we plan are to a much lesser extent.”
In order to spoil the process for as few passengers as possible, Lufthansa is seeking to cut flights mainly on routes where several frequencies are offered per day, so that it can offer a replacement flight to customers in a timely manner.
The company justifies the many deletions with caution and common sense for the rest of the industry, which, despite all efforts, “continues to suffer from bottlenecks and staff shortages, especially in Europe,” said the spokesman. He pointed to airports, ground handling services, and air traffic control - and also airlines - but said that Lufthansa’s cancellations should now reduce the workload and “enable more stability for the whole system.”
Lufthansa had not responded to ch-aviation’s request for comment at the time of going to press.
Despite some significant salary increases, there is evidently still a lack of employees in the aviation sector - especially as “anyone who wants to work in the security area and on board needs an official certificate,” said Munich Airport president and CEO Jost Lammers, permission that can take months because the relevant administrations are themselves understaffed.
