The crane airline is becoming more and more of a plucked bird in the corona crisis. Even after the state's entry with billions, the situation does not stabilize. The crash is to be prevented with a third savings package within a few months.
Germany's largest airline is trying to master the massive consequences of the corona pandemic with what is now the third austerity program. After the situation eased slightly during the holiday season, the alarm bells are ringing again at the airline, which has now been kept alive with state aid. As a result, significantly more aircraft are decommissioned. The A380 wide-body aircraft is unlikely to take off at all. And the loss of 22,000 jobs in the group is by no means the end of the flagpole.
The reason for the new round of savings at the crane airline is the bitter realization that the forecasts for the fourth quarter, which will start in a few weeks, have proven to be too optimistic. The number of bookings has been falling again since September because with the increasing number of infections in Europe, more travel warnings and quarantine requirements have been imposed. According to its own statements, the company now only expects a production level of 20 to 30 percent of the previous year's figure. Most recently, at least 50 percent was assumed.
By the middle of the decade, 150 aircraft are now to be decommissioned – 50 more than before. Six A380s have already been mothballed. the remaining six aircraft and ten A340-600 aircraft will be transferred to a "so-called long-term parking mode and taken out of planning," as they say. They could be put back into operation – but "only in the event of an unexpectedly rapid market recovery". In practical terms, as long as they bear the Lufthansa logo, they will probably only have contact with the ground. As a result, value adjustments of more than one billion euros are necessary on the balance sheet.
Streamlining the management level
With the expanded fleet shutdown, the so-called overhang of staff also increases. If at the end of the previous austerity packages 22,000 employees had no real prospects, this number has now risen again. This is now being negotiated with the trade unions. After all, the number of redundancies for operational reasons should be kept as small as possible. Finally, every fifth management position is to be dropped and the processes to be restructured.
Lufthansa and the subsidiaries Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines had to be saved from bankruptcy with nine billion euros in government aid from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium. The company has already had to say goodbye to the group of DAX companies.
Before the crisis, the group had 760 aircraft and around 138,000 employees. Group boss Carsten Spohr had already prepared the workforce for the further cuts last week.
Despite the gloomy outlook, the revised financial planning provides for further reducing the outflow of funds through strict cost management. The liquidity outflow is to be reduced from currently around 500 million euros per month to an average of 400 million euros per month in the coming winter. The group reaffirmed its goal of generating positive free cash flow again in the coming year.
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