Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is an air carrier in Germany.

The largest aviation concern in Europe, which includes:

• Austrian Airlines
• Tyrolean Airways
• Swiss International Air Lines
• Swiss European Air Lines
• Edelweiss Air
• Lufthansa Regional
• Air Dolomiti
• Eurowings
• Lufthansa CityLine
• Germanwings (liquidated in April 2020)
• Lufthansa Cargo

The headquarters of the company in the city of Cologne.

History

2024: ITA Airways purchase

On July 3, 2024, the European Commission approved a deal to buy German airline Deutsche Lufthansa a 41 percent stake in Italian ITA Airways (Italia Trasporto Aereo SpA). The value of the asset is €325 million, and the transaction is planned to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024. Read more here

2021: Dismissal of 10 thousand people

At the end of April 2021, Lufthansa announced that it intends to reduce another 10 thousand full-time employees or reduce staff costs in a comparable amount, despite the fact that the airline's staff has already decreased by 24,000 employees since the beginning of the pandemic.

Almost all airlines have suffered due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of them, including British Airways and Lufthansa, have concluded that downsizing is the only long-term solution to cope with the consequences of the aviation industry crisis.

Lufthansa cuts another 10,000 jobs

Presenting the results of the Lufthansa Group for the first quarter of 2021, CFO Remco Steenbergen said that Lufthansa still has a relatively high surplus of labor. More than 10,000 "full-time equivalents" are subject to reduction, according to the airline.

As of March 31, 2021, the Lufthansa Group employed 111,262 people. This is 19% less than in 2020 (136,966 people). Currently, the dismissal of employees on the basis of agreements with trade unions is not allowed, but similar measures can be taken as early as early 2022. The company plans to implement new reductions by voluntarily leaving employees or transferring part of the employees to part-time work.

CEO Carsten Spohr believes voluntary care programs, natural staff decline and a moratorium on hiring will sufficiently reduce the number of jobs in cabin crew and ground staff departments.

The airline is already making the necessary preparations for the dismissal of employees, if necessary. Lufthansa is already finalizing the necessary legal processes to force layoffs despite union protests, Steenbergen said.^[1]

2020

Reduction of 39 thousand jobs

In early December 2020, it became known about the reduction of 29 thousand jobs in Lufthansa around the world. This number of employees will be dismissed by the end of 2020, and in 2021 the airline will reduce another 10 thousand employees in Germany. The German carrier is forced to take such measures as part of the fight against the crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus.

According to Bild am Sonntag, in addition to layoffs, Lufthansa will close its subsidiary for the production of food for air passengers LSG in 2020, which employs 7,500 people.

Lufthansa fires 39,000 employees

The company and its subsidiaries Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines have already revised flight schedules in 2020, reducing their number, as well as the number of aircraft in their fleet and staff. It is predicted that air transportation will not return to the level preceding the pandemic until 2025.

In September 2020, the company announced it would reduce its fleet by 150 aircraft, totaling 760. In addition, the company removed the remaining eight Airbus 380 from flights after it decommissioned six of them in the spring.

Ten Airbus A340-600 aircraft have also been removed from flights. Lufthansa has previously said that "these aircraft will only be reactivated if the market recovers unexpectedly quickly." The remaining seven Airbus A340-600 will be finally decommissioned, the company added.

In the future, the number of employees of the German air carrier should be reduced to 100 thousand people, mainly due to part-time work and voluntary layoffs, as well as due to layoffs for industrial reasons. Lufthansa employees will also have to make so-called savings contributions, as well as voluntarily refuse to pay certain bonuses and bonuses.^[2]

The European Commission approved a plan to help the company from the German government

In June 2020, the European Commission (EC) approved the German project for multi-billion dollar assistance to the Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa Group).

"Germany will invest 6 billion euros in recapitalization, as well as provide 3 billion euros in state loan guarantees. This significant support will help Lufthansa weather the current crisis due to the coronavirus, which has hit the air transportation sector especially hard, "

According to the project, the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) acquires the right to secretly participate for 5.7 billion euros in equity, and the government also buys a 20% stake for 0.3 billion euros.

Plan for the reduction of 26 thousand employees

In June 2020, it became known that the Deutsche Lufthansa aviation concern plans to cut up to 26,000 jobs due to a sharp decline in air travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lufthansa has more than 138,000 employees at the time. Earlier it was assumed that the concern would have to fire about 10,000 people.

Capitalization collapse by 37%

Since the beginning of 2020, the value of Lufthansa securities has dropped by 37%. In early June 2020, it became known that Lufthansa shares will be withdrawn from the index of the 30 largest companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange - DAX - from June 22, 2020. They will enter the MDAX index, which includes 60 companies following the capitalization size behind the DAX list.

The airline's securities at the auction on June 11 are cheaper by 7.7%.

German government plan to buy out 20% of the company for €9 billion

On May 25, 2020, it was announced that the German authorities would buy a 20% stake in Lufthansa for €9 billion. In recent months, the company has been losing €1 million per hour due to the cancellation of 95% of flights amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

This decision was announced by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on German television. Prior to that, local media published information that the state would be given the right to appoint two people to the airline's supervisory board.

This is the largest package of assistance to one company in Germany since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

Already in June, Lufthansa plans to increase the number of flights to 1.8 thousand weekly.

Liquidation of Germanwings low-cost airline

On April 8, 2020, Lufthansa announced that the airline was permanently closing its low-cost airline Germanwings. The reason is the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, due to which international passenger air travel has been reduced to a minimum, as well as domestic flights in countries. Read more here.

2018: Launch of competition to develop blockchain solutions for aviation

In August 2018, it became known that the German corporate developer ON SAP and Lufthansa airline joined forces in development blockchain in aviation. More. here

2017: Content Partnership with Winding Tree

On October 11, 2017, Lufthansa Group announced a content partnership with Swiss startup Winding Tree, a developer of a public blockchain platform in tourism.

To finance the first phase of the platform's development and attract service providers to it, Winding Tree will begin selling its Lif cryptocurrency tokens on November 1, 2017. Lufthansa Group intends to take part in the pre-sale of Lif tokens after obtaining appropriate approval from Swiss regulators. Read more here.

2016: Internet launch on short-haul flights

At the end of June 2016, Lufthansa announced the timing of the organization of Internet access on short-haul flights. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has granted the airline an additional Service Certificate (STC). Read more here.

Lufthansa to launch internet on short-haul flights in October 2016

1960: First-grade keg beer

Beer in the first class of "Lufthanza," 1960.

Notes