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Lufthansa cuts capacity after long-haul bookings slump
The airline group has scaled down its growth from 6% to 5.4% this year and cut its winter capacity by seven aircraft after seeing a slump in forward bookings.
It will remove one long-haul jet and six short-haul aircraft from the fleet at the end of October.
Announcing its first half results, the airline group warned it faced a tough six months ahead.
The recent terror attacks in Europe and economic uncertainties have hit bookings on long-haul routes to Europe, in particular from Asia and South America, it said.
While the airline group, which includes Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, Brussels Airlines and SWISS, said it had achieved a ‘solid’ result in the first half of the year, when earnings were up by €61 million to €529 million, it said the industry ‘has to prepare for a difficult second half-year."
"The terrorist attacks in Europe and also the increasing political and economic uncertainties are having a tangible impact on passenger volumes. The forward bookings, in particular for our long-haul services to Europe have declined significantly," said chairman Carsten Spohr.
"We expect the high pricing pressure to continue. In view of this, and as we recently announced, we expect to report an Adjusted EBIT for the full year which is below the previous year’s. This is why we will push on our efficiency increases even more consistently."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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