Lufthansa decommissions 40 jets and axes Germanwings

Lufthansa is to permanently decommission more than 40 of its aircraft and axe its Germanwings low-cost arm, warning it will take years for the airline industry to return to its pre-coronavirus peak in passenger numbers. After a board meeting Tuesday, the German group added that it would reduce the capacity of its Eurowings brand by cutting its long-haul operations. It will also accelerate the restructuring of its Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines subsidiaries.  The passenger jets that will no longer fly under a Lufthansa flag will include six Airbus A380s, seven A340-600s, and five Boeing 747-400s. Eleven Airbus A320s, which had been used for short-haul connections, will also be dropped. As a result, Lufthansa’s capacity at its main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich will be reduced. In a statement on Tuesday, the company, which has already furloughed almost 90,000 workers and scrapped its dividend, said it would take “months until the global travel restrictions were completely lifted and years until the worldwide demand for air travel returns to pre-crisis levels”. The airline, which is in daily talks with the German government about its rapidly diminishing liquidity, said in March that it had credit lines of more E5b available. The carrier, which has cut 95 per cent of its flights, also has an unencumbered fleet worth E10b against which it could borrow money.<br/>