Lufthansa CEO sees smaller fleet and reduced staff after crisis

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Lufthansa expects it will operate 100 fewer aircraft with 10,000 fewer staff after the coronavirus crisis ends, its chief executive Carsten Spohr told employees on Friday.

Spohr issued the statement to employees on the company’s intranet. The company had previously indicated that its 140,000 employees would shrink by 7,000 and that the 760-strong fleet would decline by around 80.

The airline aims to finalise a state aid rescue package worth up to 10 billion euros ($10.79 billion) next week after the coronavirus crisis forced it to ground almost all of its planes, people close to the matter have said.

“We will probably regain our footing in 2023. Then the Lufthansa Group will be a different company,” Spohr told workers, according to a transcript seen by Reuters.

(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; writing by Tom Sims; editing by Louise Heavens)