Lufthansa plans to cut 33,000 flights from its winter schedule due to the spread of the Omicron variant and related travel restrictions, CEO Carsten Spohr said in an interview with the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“From mid-January to February, we are seeing a sharp drop in bookings,” he told the newspaper on Thursday, adding that 33,000 flights was equivalent to about 10% of the flight plan.
In particular, Lufthansa “felt” the absence of passengers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, which are particularly affected by the pandemic, Spohr said.
He said the German airline would have cut even more flights in January due to weak demand if it had not complied with European Union regulations on the use of slots: “We have to make 18,000 extra, unnecessary flights in the winter for to secure take-off and landing rights, “he said.
“While climate-friendly exceptions have been found in almost every other part of the world during the pandemic, the EU does not allow it in the same way,” he said.
“This is damaging the climate and is the exact opposite of what the EU Commission wants to achieve with its ‘Fit for 55’ plan.”
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Source From: Capital
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