Thousands of empty flights at Lufthansa: EU Commission adheres to the target

Created: 01/04/2022, 12:09 PM

From: Sebastian Richter

Lufthansa is in a dispute with the EU Commission.

The head of the group fears thousands of empty flights if there is no agreement.

(Symbol picture) © Sebastian Gollnow / dpa

Due to an EU rule, Lufthansa will have to take off thousands of empty flights this winter.

A problem for the airline and the climate.

The EU Commission is still tough.

Frankfurt - Lufthansa is at odds with the EU Commission.

Low demand has forced the group to drastically reduce its flights this winter.

Lufthansa has canceled 33,000 flights from the winter flight schedule *.

And it could be even more - if the EU Commission didn't ban it.

According to EU law, airlines have to guarantee a certain part of their take-offs and landings in order to be able to retain the "historical rights" to these time slots.

The exact proportion has changed again and again in the last few months.

Before the corona pandemic *, the airlines were still obliged to operate 80 percent of the flights.

Lufthansa: Thousands of flights take off despite fear of empty flights

In view of the extremely low passenger numbers during the corona pandemic, the airlines have now been allowed to cancel three out of four flights and only had to guarantee 25 percent of the flights.

But when the number of flights slowly rose again, the EU Commission raised the bar for minimum take-offs and landings back to 50 percent.

Even then, airlines warned against empty flights.

In a decision in December, the EU Commission increased the mandatory flights again, this time to 64 percent.

Again Lufthansa fears numerous empty flights, especially in view of the Omikron mutation.

Group boss Carsten Spohr predicted up to 18,000 empty or almost empty flights from Frankfurt Airport *.

And that while Lufthansa is already struggling with strict climate requirements *.

Empty flights at Lufthansa feared: EU Commission defends decision

But the EU Commission is sticking to its decision.

“The Omikron variant is worrying and we will be monitoring the situation.

But we have to avoid sudden and incompletely documented changes, ”a government spokesman told the news portal Aero Telegraph.

Air traffic is steadily recovering despite new virus strains, according to the experience in Brussels.

The increase in the compulsory use of time slots will ensure airport capacity for users, it said.

In addition, the value is not out of thin air.

"In making the decision, the Commission took into account Eurocontrol's air traffic forecasts and developments since the beginning of the pandemic," the spokesman told Aero Telegraph.

They also talked to aviation industry stakeholders.

Omikron is already making itself felt at Lufthansa.

A wave of illness among pilots forced Lufthansa to cancel numerous flights * over the holidays.

(spr)