Lufthansa is set to cancel more than 30,000 flights from its original summer 2023 schedule, according to reports in Germany.
The airline is planning to reduce its schedule by some 34,000 flights this summer, according to German business newspaper WirtschaftsWoche, due to continuing staff shortages in the aviation industry.
A Lufthansa spokesperson did not confirm the number of cancellations but said the airline was “adjusting its flight schedule for summer”.
“The reason for the early adjustments is to avoid the major operational problems of summer 2022,” they added. “With the experiences of the past summer, it was already decided last year to constantly review the performance of the overall system together with all partners.”
The airline industry continues to suffer from staffing “bottlenecks” which have “not yet been completely overcome”, added Lufthansa.
“For this reason, flights for the summer months have already been cancelled - well in advance. This will enable our passengers to adjust their travel plans in line with the alternatives offered by the Lufthansa Group,” said the spokesperson.
The latest move comes after Lufthansa was forced to cancel all flights from Frankfurt and Munich last Friday (17 February) due a strike at German airports by the Ver.di trade union. The airline had to cancel more than 1,300 services at the affected airports.