Lufthansa Plans to Cancel 34,000 Summer Flights

Originally published on Airways

Due to staffing shortages, German flag carrier Lufthansa (LH) plans to cancel 34,000 flights from its 2023 summer schedule.

This news was first reported by the German newspaper WirtshaftsWoche and comes as the airline continues to experience staff shortages. According to a Lufthansa spokesperson, the cancellations may also include flights on subsidiaries of LH, including SWISS (LX), Austrian Airlines (OS), and Eurowings (EW). 

Like many airlines, LH has had to face a surge in travel demand with reduced staffing levels as the pandemic resulted in mass layoffs. Thus resulting in flight cancellations, disruption, and inconvenience for passengers during the summer of 2022. However, the airline will prevent cancellations by removing some flights from its schedule to reduce disruptions and inconveniences caused by canceled flights. 

Even though the airline plans to remove over 30,000 flights from its summer schedule, the German carrier stated that passengers affected will be informed beforehand to mitigate the inconvenience. In addition to the staff shortages, the airline has also been damaged by a staff strike that occurred on Friday and resulted in disruptions to over 1,300 flights. 

On Friday, February 17, a full-day strike was called by Verdi at Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Dortmund, Hanover, Stuttgart, and Bremen. The strike was regarding pas as Lufthansa ground staff, who are members of the Verdi union asked for a 10.5% pay increase. 

In response to the protests, Michael Niggermann, a Lufthansa Member of the Executive Board, commented, “We are not a party to the collective bargaining and have no influence on it – nevertheless, our guests, and we are massively affected. More than 1,300 flight cancellations for Lufthansa Group airlines alone show once again how vulnerable and fragile the air transport system is to strike activity.”