Lufthansa Group’s senior management have apologised to customers about disruption to flights this summer and warned the situation is “unlikely to improve” in the short-term.
Earlier this month, Lufthansa was forced to cancel hundreds of flights originally scheduled for July due to staff shortages, which is a problem affecting most of the aviation industry as it rebuilds capacity after the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a letter to customers, the group’s executive board, including CEO Carsten Spohr, admitted that the ramping up of services was “clearly not proceeding with the reliability, the robustness and the punctuality that we would like to offer you again”.
“We can only apologise to you for this and we want to be completely honest: in the coming weeks, as passenger numbers continue to rise, be it for leisure or business travel, the situation is unlikely to improve in the short term,” said the board.
“Too many employees and resources are still unavailable, not only at our infrastructure partners but in some of our own areas too.
“Almost every company in our industry is currently recruiting new personnel, with several thousand planned in Europe alone. However, this increase in capacity will only have its desired stabilising effect by the time winter comes.”
The group, which also owns Eurowings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines, said the war in Ukraine was also “severely restricting” available airspace in Europe leading to “massive bottlenecks” in the skies and further delays to flights.
“In the summer of 2023, we not only expect to have a much more reliable air transport system worldwide. We will be welcoming you back on board our Airbus A380s too,” added the board in its letter.
“We decided today to put the A380, which continues to enjoy great popularity, back into service at Lufthansa in summer 2023. In addition to this, we are further strengthening and modernising our fleets with some 50 new Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Boeing 777-9 long-haul aircraft and more than 60 new Airbus A320/321s in the next three years alone.”