In the collective bargaining conflict with the Verdi union, he was confident of an agreement, said Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr with a view to the ongoing third round of negotiations on Thursday. A day-long warning strike by ground staff last week resulted in more than 1,000 flight cancellations.
More than 7,000 flights canceled
A total of more than 7,000 flights of the main brand with the crane logo have been canceled since June because, according to Spohr, there are not enough staff on board for the “unexpectedly strong” demand for travel in all areas of air transport.
There should also be movement in the deadlocked wage negotiations with the Lufthansa pilots. Spohr has identified a willingness to talk to the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union, which has already set the course for a strike. In the middle of the main season, when air traffic is already crunching, a walkout would be fatal. “Beyond all the negotiations, we have to find our way back to a better sense of community in the company,” the Lufthansa boss implored the workforce, which was overworked in many places.
Offers reduced
In order to stabilize the sometimes chaotic processes at the airports, Lufthansa is reducing its capacity by five percentage points to 80 percent of the pre-crisis level of 2019 from July to September. With 85 to 90 percent in the coming year, planning after 75 percent this year is cautious and lower than originally intended, Spohr added.
The company also wants to remedy the current shortage of staff quickly: In the second half of the year, 5,000 new employees are to be hired – net, i.e. after deducting the usual fluctuation. Another 5,000 new hires are planned for next year. In the corona crisis, more than 30,000 jobs worldwide were cut to a good 106,000 at the moment. Spohr admitted that severance programs would have contributed to a higher than desired departure. “In hindsight, we wouldn’t do it that way anymore.”
“Flying will become more expensive”
Verdi is demanding 9.5 percent more money for the 20,000 ground workers, the pilots want at least 5.5 percent more this year – which means rising costs. Added to this are higher fuel costs. According to Spohr, this is reflected in ticket prices: “Travelling and flying will become more expensive.” The Lufthansa boss sees favorable conditions for higher flight prices in the longer term, because the infrastructure problems in the industry could last longer worldwide. “The times of overcapacity like before the pandemic are over for the time being,” he emphasized. He gives investors the prospect of achieving the long-promised return of eight percent by 2024.
After more than two years of the corona crisis with the first solid operating profit in the quarter, Lufthansa is back on its feet. Adjusted for special effects, the MDAX group earned 393 million euros from April to June, after a loss of 827 million euros a year ago. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, the company also made a net profit: the bottom line was that Lufthansa earned 259 million euros with a turnover of 8.5 billion euros, a good one and a half times as much as in the same period last year.
First profit forecast after Corona
As has been the case for almost two years, the main source of profit was the freight business of the subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo, while all passenger airlines except the Swiss subsidiary Swiss were still making losses. CFO Remco Steenbergen did not want to say when that would change. Since air freight continues to boom thanks to the massive disruption to sea freight, Lufthansa is confident of making a profit forecast for the year for the first time since the corona crisis. More than 500 million euros are expected. And that despite the fact that the flight chaos is said to cause costs of 450 to 500 million euros for the year as a whole. Strikes, which according to management can cost 20 to 35 million euros in sales per day, are not included.
The third quarter, which is seasonally the strongest, should bring significantly more money into the till than the second, also thanks to the increase in business trips. On the stock exchange, the numbers boosted the share by more than five percent.
Source: Nachrichten
