Lufthansa looks to 2021 with caution. It will probably take some time before the pre-crisis level is reached.
But with additional connections to popular vacation destinations, the company wants to turn things around.
Few industries are suffering as severely from the
corona
pandemic as aviation.
The
Lufthansa
caught it bad.
With the start of the summer flight schedule, the crisis-ridden airline is hoping for a gradual improvement.
The main hopes are on tourist destinations in
southern
Europe.
Munich -
Lufthansa
does not
expect
a rapid improvement in air traffic in
view of the further increasing
corona
numbers
worldwide
.
"We are currently assuming that the volume of traffic could reach around 50 percent of the pre-crisis level by the end of the year," said a group spokeswoman on Wednesday to
Merkur.de
*.
Last autumn, the airline had hoped for a corresponding recovery by the summer season.
The company is now looking to the current year with greater caution.
The ticket demand will largely depend on how the corona numbers develop in the destination countries and how many people in Germany and the destination countries could be vaccinated, said the
Lufthansa
spokeswoman.
Because of the corona pandemic, the industry is in the worst crisis in its history.
According to an overview by the industry association
IATA
, the airlines' losses worldwide totaled around 100 billion euros last year.
The airport operators, aircraft manufacturers and suppliers, which are also in deficit, are not even included.
The
Lufthansa
mired in crisis.
From January to September alone, the number of passengers dropped by around two thirds to 32.2 million.
In the same period, the group piled up 5.58 billion euros lousy.
Because of the threatening situation, the federal government even had to rush to help with a billion-dollar rescue package last spring.
It is true that the airline recorded an unexpected rise in bookings for sunny destinations such as the Canary Islands or South Africa at short notice during the recent Christmas holidays.
But the economic situation for the industry remains extremely tense in view of the ongoing travel restrictions and the accelerated spread of the corona pandemic, for example in Great Britain.
And improvement is hardly in sight.
According to industry experts, business with tourists on the medium-haul route could initially get under way.
In contrast, the recovery in business travel will be a long time coming - if the expensive trips in business class ever reach their pre-crisis level again.
After all, many companies have come to appreciate the benefits of video conferencing during the corona pandemic.
Many flying visits on site should therefore be completely eliminated in the future.
At
Lufthansa
, you adjust accordingly.
With the start of the summer flight schedule, the medium-haul range at
Munich Airport
will be
expanded significantly, the
group
spokeswoman announced.
Especially destinations on the Greek islands would be more frequented with the flight plan change from the end of March.
Destinations such as
Kos
and
Rhodes
were already in
high demand
last autumn
.
In addition to the temperatures, comparatively low incidence values also speak in favor of the holiday destination on the Mediterranean.
The
Canary Islands
,
Spain
,
Portugal
,
southern France
and
Italy
remained the focus of the summer flight schedule
.
However, which destinations will actually be flown to and how often will depend on the further development of the corona pandemic, it said.