Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, will have to cancel around 2022 flights between mid-January and February 33.000. The background to this is that the demand for this period collapsed rapidly. Group boss Carsten Spohr speaks to the FAZ of a “sharp break in the bookings”.

The manager has also sharply criticized the EU Commission's slot rules. He accuses him of having to fly unnecessarily in order not to lose take-off and landing rights. Spohr told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “Due to the weak demand in January, we would have reduced significantly more flights. But we have to carry out 18.000 additional, unnecessary flights in winter just to secure our take-off and landing rights ”. The currently valid regulations stipulate that at least 64 percent of the slots must actually be used, otherwise they will expire. Originally, Brussels wanted to make use of 80 percent a condition.

Spohr advocates global vaccination requirements

For the first time, Lufthansa boss Spohr also expressed himself in the direction of mandatory vaccination. He told the FAZ that it would be “much easier if there was something like a global compulsory vaccination for passengers”. Regarding the mask requirement on board, he said that it was strictly controlled and that a government head had only recently been asked to leave a machine because the latter allegedly refused to wear a mask.

The Lufthansa Group has meanwhile been able to increase the offer to around 60 percent of the 2019 level. Around three quarters of the aircraft are said to be in use. In terms of passengers, according to Spohr, it is about half of the volume of 2019. The annual loss will be around two billion euros and that would be absolutely “no reason for parties”.