" It will be months before global travel restrictions are completely lifted and years before global demand returns to pre-crisis levels. ". This cold and unfortunately realistic assessment is shared by the Board of Directors of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, which on 7 April unveiled the first measures to deal with what promises to be a long-lasting and unprecedented crisis. A crisis that could be fatal to certain companies that are already in a fragile state for several months, as shown by the various bankruptcies in the airline sector. The head of Lufthansa even put a figure of one million euros per hour the German group's current losses... As a result, the group is going to have to massively downsize, citing " far-reaching measures to reduce the capacity of air operations and administration in the long term ". In terms of human resources, management suggests " new employment models "Lufthansa has also unveiled a vast austerity programme that will force the early retirement of six Airbus A380s, seven A340-600s and five Boeing 747-400s. As for the fleet, Lufthansa has unveiled a vast austerity programme which will force the early retirement of six Airbus A380s, seven A340-600s and five Boeing 747-400s. The airline will also be withdrawing eleven Airbus A320s from its short-haul network. The group's subsidiaries have not been spared, of course, with Germanwings going off the radar. At Swiss, the airline group will postpone deliveries of the new aircraft that were expected, and withdraw the older ones. Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines are also planning to reduce their fleets. For the time being, no fewer than 42 aircraft are affected by Lufthansa's austerity programme. "Today's decisions will affect almost all Lufthansa Group flight operations"The company is therefore preparing to reduce capacity at its two hubs, Frankfurt and Munich airports.
