BERLIN (GERMANY) – German carrier Lufthansa would have slashed 29,000 jobs by the end of this year and another 10,000 jobs in its home country next year as it struggles to recover from the pummelling of the pandemic, according to a newspaper report.
With air travel not expected to recover to pre-coronavirus levels before 2025, Lufthansa and its subsidiaries, Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, have reduced their schedules, fleet and employees.
According to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, the airline would slash 20,000 jobs outside the country and it is also selling its catering unit LSG, which employs 7,500 people, bringing the total number of employees down to 109,000.
In Germany, an additional 10,000 staff would be laid off next year. Lufthansa has already utilised 3 billion euros (2.71 billion pounds) of the 9-billion-euro government bailout it received earlier this year, said the report.
Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said last that the airline has 27,000 too many full-time equivalent staff. This comes as Lufthansa promised unions that it would not make forced redundancies in return for cuts to bonuses and other payments.
An agreement to reduce costs and save jobs at the airline had garnered the support of most of the Verdi trade union members who work as ground staff.
A formal announcement will be made on Monday.
