By Francis Ogwo
Workers under the employment of German Airline Lufthansa have been notified of imminent layoffs, lamenting the impact of decline in air travel and slow progress in union negotiations.
This, according to a Reuters report on Friday, implied that there were unavoidable salary cuts after losing 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) in a single quarter.
“As airlines are planning to come back into full operations, there is a serious need to be in compliance with global best practice.
“Recently, FAA issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) warning that both B737 engines could shut down after take-off, which was prompted by four recent reports of single-engine shutdowns due to engine bleed air 5th stage check valve – which get stuck if faulty as most aircraft has been on-ground some were even on storage during this pandemic,” it added.
Recently in June, Lufthansa secured a nine billion euro state bailout and flew just four per cent of prior-year passengers between April and June due to the COVID-19 pandemic with an expected increase in capacity to only around 50 per cent by the end of the year and two-thirds of last year’s level in 2021.
This figure was a sharp contrast to the brand’s competitors such as Air France-KLM, which expects to fly 80 per cent of its pre-crisis flights next year, and British Airways and Iberia owner, IAG.
