Lufthansa expected to cut 30,000 jobs by year’s end

Deutsche Lufthansa AG will cut 29,000 jobs by the end of the year, keeping 109,000 workers in its workforce, German tabloid newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported on Sunday.

According to the details, the German airline will cut another 10,000 jobs in its home country next year as it struggles to cope with the coronavirus. Lufthansa would cut 20,000 jobs outside of Germany, while it is also selling its catering unit LSG, which employs 7,500 people, bringing the total staff down to 109,000.

The airline and its subsidiaries, Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, have slashed their schedules, fleet and staff, with air travel not expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels before 2025. Next year, a further 10,000 jobs will be cut in Germany. It has already burned through 3 billion euros ($3.64 billion) of the 9-billion-euro government bailout it secured earlier in the year, the paper said.

Read also: ICAO leader statement for International Civil Aviation Day

A formal announcement is expected on Monday (today).

That letter sent in October by the Lufthansa board to its employees said the aviation environment was unclear and difficult to predict.

“No one can reliably predict these effects. We are determined nevertheless to preserve at least 100,000 of the Lufthansa Group’s 130,000 current jobs. Even if we do not currently have nearly enough work for a workforce of this size,” the letter read.

Read also: SpiceJet plane undershoots runway in Guwahati

It is to be remembered that, on Ocober 27, 2020, Lufthansa had warned that 30,000 jobs are under threat as it scales down its winter schedule to levels not seen since the 1970s. The airline cites the coronavirus pandemic as the reason for the cutbacks.

The German state in June stepped in to take a 25 percent stake in the airline, pumping nine billion euros of liquidity to prop up one of the nation’s most internationally visible companies.

Read also: PIA removed from banned airlines list in EU territories

The Lufthansa Group thinks it will take years for the airline industry to recover to 2019 levels. So far this year, it has cut airline schedules, fleet size, and employee numbers across the group. Over the current financial quarter, the Lufthansa Group says it expects to operate at about 25% of its normal capacity.

Stay tuned to Baaghi TV for latest news and updates!