German airline Lufthansa says 22,000 full-time jobs may need to be cut worldwide due to the drop in demand for flights caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s more than twice the number of jobs that the airline, which says it has over 135,000 employees, previously said might need to be axed.
Lufthansa, which also owns Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines, said it expects to have about 100 planes fewer in operation after the pandemic.
Shares in Lufthansa were down almost 8% on the Frankfurt exchange Thursday.
In a statement late Wednesday, a union representing cabin crew, UFO, said its members were prepared to make concessions but expected job guarantees from the airline.
Lufthansa has agreed to a 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) bailout plan that would give a government stabilization fund a 20% stake in the airline.
Existing shareholders need to approve the bailout at an extraordinary meeting on June 25.
(AP)
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2 Responses
Considering that Germany is under a 1000 year חרם since May 8th, 1945, as soon as WW2 finally concluded, Luthansa may as well totally shut down, because waiting until the year May 8th, 2945 to resume business, would be quite expensive.
The labor unions need to recognize that this is not an old fashioned labor relations negotiation where they can make demands. If there are not enough customers the airline has to slim down. That means fewer staff. Period. You cannot run a business having staff just sitting about doing nothing.