A third round of job cuts on top of 22,000 announced since the start of the Covid-19 crisis is being imposed by Lufthansa.
The German carrier is to trim its fleet by 150 aircraft by 2025 as it warned that the outlook for international air traffic has “significantly worsened” in recent weeks.
“With the summer travel season coming to an end, passenger and booking figures are declining again, after slight signs of recovery were still evident in July and August,” Lufthansa said.
Six Airbus A380 superjumbos were taken out of service in the spring and a remaining eight A380s and ten A340-600s, which were previously intended for flight service, will be transferred to long-term storage.
“These aircraft will only be reactivated in the event of an unexpectedly rapid market recovery,” the group said. “In addition, the remaining seven Airbus A340-600s will be permanently decommissioned.”
Lufthansa, which received a government bailout of €9 billion in June, said it would have to book €1.1bn in impairment over its fleet decisions.
“The previously announced personnel surplus amounting to 22,000 full-time positions will increase as a result of the decisions taken in regards to the third package within the restructuring programme,” the airline added.
“The change in permanent staffing levels within flight operations will be further adjusted in regards to market development. The compensation and reduction of personnel surplus will be discussed with the responsible employee representatives.”
No figure was put on the additional workforce reductions being sought.
However, management positions will be cut by 20% in the first quarter of 2021 and office space will be reviewed worldwide and reduced by 30% in Germany.
The objective “remains agreeing on crisis packages with the collective bargaining partners that limit the number of necessary redundancies”.
Lufthansa added: “Despite the worsened outlook, the revised financial planning intends to further reduce cash outflows through strict cost management.
“The outflow of liquidity is to be reduced from currently around €500 million per month to an average of €400 million per month in winter 2020-21.
“The previously communicated group target of returning to positive operating cash flows during 2021 is being reinforced.”