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Tag: Lufthansa

  • Nigeria investigates Lufthansa over alleged abuse of travelers

    Nigeria investigates Lufthansa over alleged abuse of travelers

    The German carrier, Lufthansa Airlines is accused of mistreating more than 200 customers traveling to Nigeria, and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has launched an investigation into the matter

    According to local media, the airline threatened to contact the police last Friday when the customers, whose flight was delayed, asked for accommodations for their stay.

    The flight from Frankfurt to Lagos, which was meant to arrive at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, was reportedly delayed after diverting to Cotonou in Benin, and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

    Lufthansa apologised for the flight delay in a circular sent to its passengers last Friday.

    The passengers alleged the Lagos airport was not closed, contrary to the claim by the Lufthansa pilot.

    Sam Adurogboye, the NCAA public affairs official, on Thursday said the regulator has begun investigation into the matter after receiving complaints from the passengers.

    A spokesman for the airline has told the BBC that they are investigating the circumstances of the incident.

  • Lufthansa to offer coronavirus testing at German airports

    German airline group Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) plans to offer coronavirus tests at airports in Frankfurt and Munich, a spokesman said on Friday.

    The tests would be conducted through partnering test centers and be available by early July, the spokesman said, confirming an earlier report in German weekly Der Spiegel.

    Lufthansa last week pledged a wide-ranging restructuring, from thousands of job cuts to asset sales, as it seeks to repay a 9 billion euro state bailout and navigate deepening losses in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Source: Reuters

  • German airline Lufthansa plans to cut 22,000 jobs

    German airline Lufthansa has said it will cut 22,000 jobs as it struggles to deal with the slump in air travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

    The carrier predicted a slow recovery in demand and expected to have about 100 fewer aircraft after the crisis.

    Lufthansa said half the job cuts would be in Germany. It hopes to agree on the measures with unions by 22 June.

    It added that it hoped to minimise redundancies through short-time working and crisis agreements.

    “The aim is to pave the way for the preservation of as many jobs as possible in the Lufthansa Group,” the company said.

    The airline employs more than 135,000 people worldwide. About half of them are in Germany.

    Lufthansa 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.”

    Struggling sector

    Last month, Lufthansa agreed to a rescue deal worth €9bn (£8bn) with the German government to save it from collapse.

    The German government will take a 20% stake in the firm, which it intends to sell by the end of 2023.

    However, the deal still has to be approved by the firm’s shareholders and the European Commission.

    The company closed its budget airline Germanwings in April.

    Other airlines are implementing similar measures in anticipation of a long, slow return to former levels of demand. Job cuts announced so far include:

    British Airways is proposing to make 12,000 of its 45,000 staff redundant, with more than 1,000 pilot roles at risk

    Ryanair is set to shed 3,000 jobs – 15% of its workforce – with boss Michael O’Leary saying the planned cuts are “the minimum that we need just to survive the next 12 months”

    EasyJet has said it will cut up to 30% of its workforce – about 4,500 jobs And Virgin Atlantic, which employs 10,000 people, has said it will cut 3,000 jobs.

    Source: bbc.com

  • Coronavirus: Lufthansa to cut 22,000 jobs

    German airline Lufthansa has said it will cut 22,000 jobs as it struggles to deal with the slump in air travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

    The carrier predicted a slow recovery in demand and expected to have about 100 fewer aircraft after the crisis.

    Lufthansa said half the job cuts would be in Germany. It hopes to agree the measures with unions by 22 June.

    It added that it hoped to minimise redundancies through short-time working and crisis agreements.

    “The aim is to pave the way for the preservation of as many jobs as possible in the Lufthansa Group,” the company said.

    The airline employs more than 135,000 people worldwide. About half of them are in Germany.

    Lufthansa 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.”

    Struggling sector

    Last month, Lufthansa agreed a rescue deal worth €9bn (£8bn) with the German government to save it from collapse.

    The German government will take a 20% stake in the firm, which it intends to sell by the end of 2023.

    However, the deal still has to be approved by the firm’s shareholders and the European Commission.

    The company closed its budget airline Germanwings in April.

    Other airlines are implementing similar measures in anticipation of a long, slow return to former levels of demand. Job cuts announced so far include:

    British Airways is proposing to make 12,000 of its 45,000 staff redundant, with more than 1,000 pilot roles at risk Ryanair is set to shed 3,000 jobs – 15% of its workforce – with boss Michael O’Leary saying the planned cuts are “the minimum that we need just to survive the next 12 months” EasyJet has said it will cut up to 30% of its workforce – about 4,500 jobs And Virgin Atlantic, which employs 10,000 people, has said it will cut 3,000 jobs.

    Source: BBC

  • Lufthansa to resume some European services in June

    German airline giant Lufthansa said Friday it will fly twice as many aircraft in June as in recent weeks and return to some European destinations, but the flight plan remains a shadow of pre-coronavirus operations.

    Spots beloved of holidaymakers like Spanish island Mallorca, Crete and German North Sea retreat Sylt will return to the timetable, with 160 aircraft aloft bearing Lufthansa’s crane or the logos of subsidiaries Swiss and Eurowings.

    More details of the 106 planned destinations will be published next week, Lufthansa said.

    But the vast majority of the group’s roughly 760 planes will remain grounded as restrictions on travel and tourist essentials like hotels and restaurants ease only slowly around the continent.

    “We sense a great desire and longing among people to travel again,” board member Harry Hohmeister said in a statement.

    “With all due caution, we are now making it possible for people to catch up and experience what they had to do without for a long time.”

    Details of the June flight plan were released less than 24 hours after the Frankfurt group said it was in talks for the German government to buy shares and offer a loan to keep it afloat through the coronavirus crisis.

    Berlin could end up owning around 25 percent of Lufthansa, although politicians are still wrangling over the details.

    Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told tabloid-style daily Bild Thursday that Lufthansa was part of Germany’s “family silver” and that Berlin aimed to avoid a “fire sale” of valuable firms.

    Source: AFP

  • Lufthansa makes ‘permanent’ cuts as travel plunges

    Lufthansa is closing its Germanwings budget airline as part of a wider cutback driven by a decline in travel due to the coronavirus.

    The German airline said it would de-commission more than 40 aircraft, warning that it does not expect demand to return for “years”.

    It said it would also reduce fleets in its other businesses, which include Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Eurowings.

    Lufthansa’s moves could be a hint of more drastic steps to come elsewhere.

    “You can’t understate the disaster that’s unfolding right now in the world’s airline industry. There’s no sugar coating it,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at Teal Group.

    Parked aircraft

    While he said that travel demand has bounced back after other disasters and recessions, until the health risks abate he expects other airlines to follow Lufthansa’s lead.

    “For the next year,” he said “to two years, there’s going to be a lot of aircraft retirements, a lot of parked aircraft and a lot of utilization reductions.”

    Global airlines group IATA has said it expects airline passenger revenues to drop by more than 40% this year and warned that more than 25 million jobs in aviation and related industries are at risk.

    Lufthansa has already idled more than 90% of its fleet since the virus outbreak and held talks with the German government about aid. But offloading aircraft means the “first permanent capacity reduction”, it said.

    “It will take months until the global travel restrictions are completely lifted and years until worldwide demand for air travel returns to pre-crisis levels,” Lufthansa said. “Based on this evaluation, today the Executive Board has decided on extensive measures to reduce the capacity of flight operations and administration long-term.”

    The firm said it will enter talks with unions and its work council quickly to discuss “among other things, new employment models in order to keep as many jobs as possible”.

    “The decisions taken today will affect almost all flight operations” it said.

    Mr Aboulafia said in part the crisis is allowing Lufthansa to accelerate plans to dump older, less fuel-efficient aircraft, several of which Lufthansa said were already scheduled to be sold.

    It is a good opportunity to “prepare for rebuilding it with better aircraft one day when demand comes back,” Mr Aboulafia said

    Source: bbc.com

  • Lufthansa cancels more than 7,000 flights over coronavirus concerns

    Lufthansa is grounding planes and canceling flights as the coronavirus outbreak spreads in Europe.

    The German airline said Thursday it has canceled 7,100 European flights for March, mostly within Germany or on routes to Italy, accounting for about 25% of its total capacity.

    Investors have punished airlines stocks in recent weeks. United Airlines stock is down 32% so far this year, for example, and shares in Germany’s Lufthansa are down 29% over the same period.

    Earlier this week, Lufthansa said it would ground 150 of its 770 aircraft.

    “Guests who have submitted their contact details to Lufthansa will be proactively informed of the cancellations,” the company said in a statement.

    Source: CNN.COM