Frankfurt — Lufthansa is to cut back its summer schedule on account of persistent staff shortages, the German airline announced from its main hub at Frankfurt Airport on Friday.
"Staff bottlenecks have not been completely overcome across Europe," a Lufthansa spokesman said, pointing to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic over the past two years.
A decision had been taken to cut flights from the schedule, rather than cancelling flights at short notice. This would allow passengers to plan better, he said.
Lufthansa Airlines chief executive Jens Ritter said recently that close joint planning had been coordinated with "system partners" in reference to airports, aviation insurance and other service providers. Every effort was being made, he said.
He recalled the chaos of the summer of last year, when rapid growth in air travel left the sector unable to cope, with long delays, queues and cancellations at German airports. Baggage handling and security checks were badly affected.
Lufthansa was forced at the time to cut back its services sharply, mainly because of a shortage of ground staff.
While the spokesman could not say how many flights would be cut from the summer schedule running from the end of March to the end of October, the business magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported that 34,000 flights had been struck from the original plan.
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