Lufthansa Wednesday said it has pushed back by at least 3 months a decision on whether to take over Brussels Airlines in the wake of last month’s terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital that disrupted flights there. Lufthansa already owns 45% of the Brussels Airlines parent and faced a deadline on whether to decide to acquire the remaining stake. Lufthansa said it had agreed with Brussels Airlines to extend the deadline to the end of August. Lufthansa CE Carsten Spohr said Brussels Airlines is focused on restoring operations to normal. “That is a major challenge under the current security provisions, and must now be the priority. And in view of this, we have agreed with Brussels Airlines to give ourselves a further 3 months to conclude our negotiations on the acquisition terms and devise the migration concept required,” Spohr said. <br/>
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Lufthansa, Air Berlin and other airlines cancelled hundreds of flights in Germany Wednesday as a strike by public-services workers at airports hobbled operations in Frankfurt, Munich and Cologne. Lufthansa eliminated 895 flights, or 60% of the services it had scheduled for Wednesday. Munich airport, where a new E900m (US$1.02b) terminal opened Tuesday, was hardest hit, with 700 flights cancelled including 545 from Lufthansa. In Frankfurt, there were 392 cancellations. Air Berlin dropped at least 43 domestic flights slated for Munich and Cologne and re-routed long-haul flights to Nuremberg. “These strikes are totally inappropriate,” German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said. With the govt offering raises of 3% and other concessions in the last round of negotiations, “they should discuss it first instead of striking.” <br/>
Turkish Airlines expects to receive 35 new aircraft this year, including 10 wide-body planes, as part of a drive to increase the size of its fleet and lower the average age of its aircraft. Ahmet Olmustur, Turkish Airlines' CMO, said that the airline aimed to have almost 450 aircraft by 2020, from 311 now. "People want to fly with new aircraft so we have plans to lower the age of our fleet," he said. Turkish Airlines expects to have 72.4m passengers this year, representing an 18% increase on 2015. However, Olmustur said the airline had seen a 10% drop in demand on some Russian and southern European routes. Tourist arrivals to Turkey have taken a beating following a spate of bomb attacks this year, including 2 in Istanbul, usually the country's biggest tourist draw. <br/>