Coronavirus
Lufthansa grounds its Airbus A380s for several weeks
The German airline will not be operating its superjumbos until May or June as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis. The Airbus A380s will remain immobilized for at least two months.
A380 of Lufthansa.
A380 of Lufthansa.
14 Airbus A380s are in operation at Lufthansa. Not for long. After it was announced on Friday that the entire fleet of superjumbos could be temporarily decommissioned, the grounding now is reality. As the portal Aero reports, referring to an internal document, Lufthansa is suspending flights with its Airbus A380 until at least May.
Perhaps, the document said, they could also be stopped until June. According to the letter, the Airbus A380 is currently only operating at 35 percent capacity. That is not enough to be profitable. In the coming days, Lufthansa said, arrangements for vacation and part-time work would be agreed upon with the employees. The planes will be parked at their bases, Frankfurt and Munich.
Savings on personell costs
Lufthansa has reacted more strongly than most other airlines to the drop in demand due to the corona virus. Capacity is being temporarily reduced by up to 50 per cent. However, there are also personnel cost-cutting measures. «In addition to an immediate hiring freeze, the Lufthansa Group has already offered its employees the use of voluntary individual personnel measures in recent weeks», the Group announced. These included unpaid leave and bringing forward annual leave.
It had already been stated earlier that expenditure on projects and material costs must be limited to what is absolutely necessary. Short-time work is also an issue.