As a result of the current situation, caused by the accelerated spread of the Coronavirus Disease in Europe, Lufthansa Group will cancel the number of short- and medium-haul flights by up to 25% over the upcoming weeks.
For such a large global airline group, that means more than 7,100 flights. The airline said on Thursday that the cancelled flights are mostly within Germany, or on routes to Italy.
Currently there are already more than 340 confirmed cases in Germany, ranking the third highest in Europe.
Due to the massive flight cut, Lufthansa is grounding 150 aircraft that are not operating flights anymore. These include 125 narrow-body short-haul aircraft and 25 wide-body long-haul aircraft.
Currently, Lufthansa Group, including Lufthansa, SWISS, Brussels, and Austrian, has more than 760 aircraft in total.
The grounded aircraft is about one fifth of the total fleet. This ratio is considerably high for airlines, keeping all these aircraft on ground is going to cost a lot of money.
Other European Airlines
European airlines are also currently experiencing an exceptionally hard time, due to the continuous spread of the coronavirus.
Yesterday Flybe, an important regional airline in the UK, announced that they will enter into administration. All flights are suspended and all operations are ceased. You can read more about this story here.
The flag carrier, and the largest operator in the UK, British Airways, also announced that they were cutting over 400 flights. Even their most important route, London Heathrow – New York JFK, got cut. You can read more about this story here.
All these changes are made due to the substantial drop in flight booking numbers and people’s fear of flying.
If Your Flight is Cancelled
At the point of writing Lufthansa, other airlines of Lufthansa Group, or your travel agency should have already reached out to you to provide alternative arrangements.
If you think that the new arrangement is not suitable for you, first go online to search for some flight alternatives. Then you may contact the airline company or travel agency to let them make the new arrangements for you.
If you do not want to travel anymore, both airlines will now allow you to get a full refund for the affected tickets.