[Coronavirus] The entire short- and long-haul programme of the Lufthansa Group significantly reduced again

• From March 17, ten percent of the originally planned capacity on long-haul and 20 percent short-haul
• Arrangements for further evacuation flights
• Lufthansa Cargo is carrying out all planned flights despite the Corona crisis

The Lufthansa Group airlines will once again reduce their short- and long-haul programmes. Austrian Airlines has already announced that it was suspending all flights as of Wednesday. The other cancellations, which will be published as of tomorrow, March 17, will lead to a sharp drop in the offer of long-haul routes, particularly in the Middle East, Africa and in Central and South America. Overall, the Lufthansa Group’s seating capacity on long-haul routes will be reduced by up to 90 percent. A total of 1,300 weekly connections were planned for summer 2020.

The flight programme will also be further reduced within Europe. As of tomorrow, only around 20 percent of the originally planned seating capacity will be offered. Originally, around 11,700 weekly short-haul connections were planned for the Lufthansa Group’s airlines in summer 2020.

The additional cancellations will be published in the systems in the next few days and the passengers will be informed.

Despite these large-scale cancellations, Lufthansa has so far been able to operate 17 special flights back to Germany during the weekend, with over 4,000 cruise passengers and holiday guests. Large-scale Boeing 747 and Airbus A350 aircraft are used to offer as much capacity as possible on these return flights.

As many thousands of German, Austrian, Swiss and Belgian citizens are still waiting to return to their home countries, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group have made arrangements for further evacuation flights. To this end, the airlines are in close contact with the respective governments of their home countries.

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, says: “Now it is no longer about economic issues, but about the responsibility that airlines have as part of the critical infrastructure in their home countries.”

With airports and air traffic control, Lufthansa will endeavour to find a coordinated concept to maintain the critical infrastructure.

The new flight schedule of all Lufthansa Group airlines is initially valid until April 12, 2020. Lufthansa Group passengers who have planned a trip in the coming weeks are advised to check the current status of their flight on their airline’s website before starting their trip. If there are rebooking options, the passengers concerned will be proactively informed about the alternatives provided they have stored their contact details online. In addition, current changes to the rebooking conditions apply on a goodwill basis. Customers can find more information on lufthansa.com.

The airlines currently have an extraordinarily high number of customer contacts in their service centres and at their stations. They are continuously working to increase capacity to meet demand. However, there are currently long waiting times. As an alternative to the service centres, passengers can use the extensive rebooking and self-service options on the airlines’ websites.

Unlike the passenger airlines, Lufthansa Cargo has so far been able to carry out all of its planned flights, with the exception of cancellations to mainland China. The Lufthansa Group subsidiary will continue to do everything possible to maintain the flight operations of its own cargo fleet and thus support the global supply chains. In the current crisis situation, in particular, logistics and thus air freight are of particular importance for many thousands of companies that rely on supplies.