1 of 2 | A Lufthansa Airbus A330-300 is filled with supplies as it waits in June 2022 to leave St. Louis-Lambert International Airport in St. Louis. Lufthansa announced Tuesday that it will cut 20,000 flights because of the price of jet fuel. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
European airline Lufthansa announced Tuesday that it will chop 20,000 “unprofitable” short-haul flights through October, a move the company says will save more than 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel.
The company, which is based in Germany, said fuel costs have doubled since the start of the conflict in Iran. This follows a move last week to retire the 27-plane fleet of its CityLine subsidiary ahead of schedule, Politico reported.
Lufthansa canceled the first 120 flights, which were to take place through the end of May, on Monday and said it had alerted affected passengers.The 20,000 cancelations include the former CityLine flights and affect the airline’s hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels and Rome.
“Passengers will therefore continue to have access to the global route network, particularly long-haul connections,” Lufthansa said in its announcement. “However, due to the increase in jet fuel prices, this will be achieved significantly more efficiently than before.”
The airline said that it will post the schedule “optimizations” from June onward in late April.
Politico reported that other airlines, including SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Air France- KLM, have turned to similar measures to deal with fuel costs.
