Lufthansa’s 20,000 cuts

Lufthansa is stripping 20,000 short-haul flights from its schedule through October after jet fuel prices doubled during the Iran conflict. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) The Lufthansa Group said the cuts reduce summer capacity by less than 1% in available seat kilometers, a standard industry measure of total seats flown over distance. The airline said the move should save more than 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) The reductions span the group’s six hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels and Rome, and cover Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and ITA Airways. Lufthansa said the first 120 daily cancellations took effect on April 21 and run through May 31. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) Some routes are being dropped outright from Frankfurt, including Bydgoszcz, Rzeszów and Stavanger, while 10 other connections are being shifted to other group hubs. Lufthansa listed Heringsdorf, Cork, Gdańsk, Ljubljana, Rijeka, Sibiu, Stuttgart, Trondheim, Tivat and Wrocław among the affected links. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) The cuts land at the start of Europe’s peak travel season, when airlines usually rely on full short-haul cabins to feed long-haul flights and lock in summer profits. Lufthansa said passengers will still be able to connect into its global network, but on a slimmer European schedule. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) Fuel is one of the industry’s biggest costs, and the International Air Transport Association says its jet fuel monitor tracks weekly refinery prices because swings in that market quickly hit airline margins. Reuters and the BBC reported that Lufthansa linked this round of cuts to fuel prices that had doubled since the Iran conflict began. (iata.org) (bbc.co.uk) The airline is also shrinking older, less efficient flying. Politico and Sky News reported that the group’s earlier decision to close Lufthansa CityLine and retire 27 aircraft accounts for a large share of the summer pullback. (politico.eu) (news.sky.com) Outside Lufthansa, the pressure is broader than one carrier. Reuters reported on April 22 that the European Union is considering jet-fuel stockpiles and sharing rules, while industry officials have warned that tight supply could force more cancellations if the squeeze lasts into summer. (msn.com) (aircargonews.net) Lufthansa said revised route plans for June and the rest of the summer will be published in late April or early May. For travelers, that means the 20,000 cuts announced on April 21 are the start of the reshuffle, not the end of it. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com)