Lufthansa plans to cut 34,000 flights from their original 2023 summer schedule, according to a report by the German business newspaper WirtshaftsWoche. The news comes as the German flag carrier experiences persistent staff shortages.
Additionally, the report indicated that the total number of cancelations may rise further as cancelations across Lufthansa's subsidiaries, such as SWISS and Eurowings, might be added. Commenting on the trimmed summer flight schedule, the spokesperson for Lufthansa, quoted by the paper, confirmed:
"Lufthansa has adjusted the 2023 summer flight schedule from Frankfurt and Munich."
The lingering staff shortage challenge
Lufthansa and many other airlines have faced the difficult task of dealing with a surge in travel demand coupled with reduced staffing levels after mass layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in massive flight cancelations, causing passengers inconvenience and disruption during the summer of 2022.
However, a spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the German airline continues to grapple with the lingering effects of the staffing crisis across the aviation industry. Lufthansa decided to remove some flights from its summer schedule to mitigate the disruption and inconvenience caused by last-second flight cancellations.
By taking this approach, the airline affords passengers a more reasonable window of time to make alternative arrangements and adjust their travel plans, minimizing the potential for unexpected changes to their itinerary.
It is worth noting that to support its post-pandemic recovery, Lufthansa embarked on a massive recruitment drive. In November 2022, the German flag carrier launched a campaign for a lookout of 20,000 new employees.
Staff strikes at Lufthansa
The recent days have proven to be challenging for Lufthansa, given that the staff strike on Friday caused disruption to over 1,300 flights.
Lufthansa's ground staff in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hannover, and Bremen walked out in a row over pay. Members of the Ver.di union asked for a 10.5% pay increase for workers.
The deputy chair at Ver.di, Christine Behle, said:
"The employees are jointly putting pressure on the respective employers because no results have been achieved in the previous negotiations.
"There is still a catastrophic labor shortage among ground handling workers – travelers felt this clearly last summer. To change this situation, an attractive wage increase must take place for them. And aviation security employees are entitled to an increase in the surcharges in the collective wage agreements."
Meanwhile, due to the 24-hour strike, Germany's two biggest airports, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and Munich Airport (MUC) came to a standstill.
It is worth noting that Lufthansa's ground staff strikes came just days after the carrier's fleet was temporarily grounded when construction workers in Frankfurt severed a communications cable.
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Source: WirtschaftsWoche