The Lufthansa Group has announced it will cut 22,000 jobs as
part of a restructuring plan that will see its airlines reduce capacity across
the board due to the coronavirus crisis.
The company, which employs more than 135,000 people
globally, said about half of the job losses will be in Germany. It hopes to
have an agreement on the move with its trade unions by 22 June. The measures
will affect up to 26,000 employees, according to the group.
Lufthansa has warned repeatedly since the beginning of the
global coronavirus pandemic that it expects a long and slow recovery in
passenger demand. As a result, it is cutting long-term capacity plans by
reducing its fleet size by about 100 aircraft, though it said many of the planes it is keeping will
remain grounded and gradually brought back into service over the next three
years.
Lufthansa’s labour director Michael Niggemann said: “Without
a significant reduction in personnel costs during the crisis, we will miss the
opportunity of a better restart from the crisis and risk that the Lufthansa
Group will emerge from the crisis significantly weakened.”
The news comes as Lufthansa awaits EU approval for a €9
billion rescue deal agreed with the German government, which will see the state
temporarily take a 20 per cent stake in the company. Last week the group revealed
it had lost €2 billion in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of coronavirus
travel restrictions.
Lufthansa Group’s airlines are gradually resuming some
services over the next three months, though frequencies will remain low until
demand starts to recover.