(TAN): Lufthansa has decided to transfer its remaining eight Airbus A380 aircraft to long-term storage. This comes after the airline’s six A380s were taken out of service this spring, the airline said.
Ten A340-600s, which were previously intended for flight service, will also be transferred to long-term storage and removed from planning. These aircraft, along with the A380 ones, will only be reactivated in the event of an unexpectedly rapid market recovery. Also, the remaining seven Airbus A340-600s will be permanently decommissioned.
The outlook for international air traffic has significantly worsened in recent weeks. With the summer travel season coming to an end, passenger and booking figures are declining again after slight signs of recovery were still evident in July and August. In view of these developments, the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa approved the third package within the Group-wide “ReNew” restructuring programme.
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The capacity outlook for the passenger airlines will be significantly revised, the airline said. The previous assumption that an average production level of 50% of the previous year’s value would be reached in the fourth quarter of the year no longer seems realistic. If the current trend continues, the available seat kilometres will probably only be in a 20–20% range, compared to the previous year.
The medium term fleet planning will be adjusted and currently foresees a permanent, group-wide capacity reduction of 150 aircraft by 2025.
