The leading European air transport group Lufthansa, saved from bankruptcy by the state, suffered a record loss of 6.7 billion euros in 2020 and also forecasts a year 2021 in the red due to the Covid pandemic- 19, which plunged the sector into an unprecedented crisis.
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The company, which in 2020 only operated 31% of the capacity offered, has lowered its demand forecasts for 2021 due to a slower recovery in travel.
It does not foresee a return to 90% of the 2019 supply until “
the middle of the decade
”.
For Lufthansa, like the entire airline industry, the short respite offered by the summer holidays against the backdrop of a slowing pandemic in Europe has vanished in the face of the resurgence of the disease and the new travel restrictions in place since the fall. .
Peaks at 70% maximum of the supply this summer
"We are calculating with stronger demand from this summer, when travel restrictions will be reduced with the release of tests and vaccines."
Carsten Spohr, Managing Director of Lufthansa
Concretely, Lufthansa expects to reach between 40% and 50% of the offer over the whole of this year, whereas it had hoped for up to 60% previously.
The group says it is prepared for peaks of 70% maximum this summer.
“
We are calculating with higher demand from this summer, when travel restrictions will be reduced with the dissemination of tests and vaccines,
” explains boss Carsten Spohr.
To get back to positive cash flow, Lufthansa needs to reach 50% of the pre-crisis level, while the group is
currently
"
burning
" 300 million euros per month - although this is still less than the sum of one million. per hour at the height of the health crisis.
30,000 jobs threatened
Up to 30,000 jobs are threatened within the company, which has however concluded agreements with the unions to avoid dry layoffs until March 2022 in return for several hundred million euros in savings.
The group will also part with some 150 planes in its fleet, while 500 of the 800 machines are still grounded.
Lufthansa benefited in June from a massive bailout package of 9 billion euros from the German government, which took a 25% stake, of which it has used 3.3 billion so far.
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) warned last week that global traffic should only represent between 33% and 38% of what it was in 2019, a recovery slower than expected.