As many as 22,000 jobs are being axed by Lufthansa despite the German airline group winning a €9 billion state bailout.
The disclosure came less than a week after the carrier revealed that its fleet would be trimmed by 100 aircraft as part of restructuring efforts to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Around 16% of the workforce will be affected by the cuts with a redundancy scheme hoped to be agreed with unions by June 22.
The job cuts would be “significantly more” than the 10,000 figure previously estimated.
The group hopes to minimise redundancies across its 135,000-strong workforce through short-time working and crisis agreements. Half of the positions will be lost in Germany.
Lufthansa said: “The recovery in demand in the air transport sector will be slow in theforeseeable future.
“The aim is to pave the way for the preservation of as many jobs as possible in the Lufthansa group.”
Head of HR Michael Niggemann said: “Without a significant reduction in personnel costs during the crisis, we will miss the opportunity of a better restart… and risk the Lufthansa group emerging significantly weakened.”
The cost cutting by Lufthansa is the latest in a line of job cuts across the sector with British Airways set to cull up to 12,000 positions, around 4,500 at easyJet, 3,000 at Virgin Atlantic and a similar number at Ryanair. Heathrow announced on Thursday that an unspecified number of frontline staff were at risk after a reduction in management roles.
