Flying Lufthansa for your vacation? Airline cancels 20,000 flights

Germany's flag carrier and largest airline Lufthansa has announced cancellation of 20,000 of its short-haul flights between May and October, a move aimed at saving jet fuel, the price of which has doubled since the outbreak of the Iran conflict.

The German carrier cancelled about 120 daily flights on Sunday stating that its capacity will be "marginally reduced," by less than one per cent in available seat kilometres, through the cancellation of unprofitable routes, particularly at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs till the end of summer season that typically runs till mid-October.

It will also selectively expand services in Zurich, Vienna and Brussels as part of a network rebalancing strategy, Lufthansa said

"In total, 20,000 short-haul flights will be removed from the schedule through October, equivalent to approximately 40,000 metric tonnes of jet fuel, the price of which has doubled since the outbreak of the Iran conflict," the German carrier said in a statement.

Short-term adjustments through May 31 have been already implemented while flight schedule optimizations from June onward to be published in late April, it said.

The planned consolidation of the European network is being carried out across Lufthansa Group's six hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome.

Lufthansa Group is also accelerating a further key strategic step in the consolidation of European networks within its hub airlines - Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and ITA Airways.

"With the cancellation of routes from Frankfurt to Bydgoszcz and Rzeszow (Poland) as well as Stavanger (Norway), at least three destinations have been temporarily removed from the current flight schedule. Ten connections are being consolidated within the Group via other hubs," it said.

Lufthansa is one of the world's largest airlines, with main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. It serves over 200 destinations, connecting Germany to Europe and the rest of the world. -- ANI