Lufthansa decides on group-wide hiring freeze and capacity reduction by another ten aircraft

As a consequence of the further deterioration in the economic situation, Lufthansa's Executive Board have decided to implement some far-reaching measures. They include an immediate hiring freeze as well as a capacity reduction by another ten aircraft in German and European traffic. Lufthansa had already decided to withdraw nine aircraft from the market in January. According to  the current planning, in the next few weeks a total of 31 aircraft of Lufthansa AG and 15 others operated by Lufthansa CityLine and the regional partners will be taken out of service.

In addition, the Executive Board has also requested all business segments to immediately present tangible measures aimed at securing the result. Before the end of this year, it is planned to create an additional cash-flow of  at least 90 million Euro with a supplementary D-check initiative "Cash 100". Furthermore, it has been decided to make cuts in investments amounting to 200 million Euro. The hiring freeze in the group will be implemented at once.

The persisting adverse economic situation and the crisis in international air traffic have severely impaired our group's economic development. "The decline in business travelers and in average revenues in the Passenger  Business since last fall, have intensified even further at the beginning of the new year. Despite slightly higher numbers of passengers, revenues in January 2003 were below those of the same month last year. In addition, the price of crude oil has reached new highs. There is an urgent need for  action", says Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Jürgen Weber. "At the same time, the end of this trend has possibly not yet been reached", warns Jürgen Weber. "A war in Iraq would cause our passenger volume - and thus also our revenues - to shrink even further. That will make tough measures, which  can be rapidly implemented, necessary", according to Weber.