Lufthansa has confirmed its has taken an additional 2,200 flights out of its Frankfurt and Munich schedules for this summer, in an attempt to “prevent overloading of ground processes during peak periods”.
Earlier this month Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings cancelled around 1,000 flights for July, mainly affecting services on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs.
But the group now says that “ATC strikes, weather events and, in particular, an increased Corona sickness rate have now put additional strain on the system”, forcing it to cancel a further 2,200 services.
Lufthansa said that the cuts “affect domestic German and intra-European flights in particular, but not the classic vacation destinations that are well booked during the vacation season”. It also warned that in addition to the cancelled flights “there may also be changes to the flight departures times”.
The move follows decisions by major European airports including London Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol to limit flight and passenger numbers during July and August, which has subsequently led to carriers including Easyjet cutting services at affected airports.
Easyjet to cut more summer flights following airport capacity caps
In a statement Lufthansa said:
“Lufthansa regrets the cancellations as well as the inconvenience this will cause for our customers. However, the schedule consolidation is an unavoidable measure that the airline is taking to ensure overall schedule stability throughout the summer. In particular, this is intended to prevent overloading of ground processes during peak periods.
“For the upcoming vacation season, Lufthansa asks its passengers to arrive at the airport on time and also continues to recommend the use of digital services, online check-in and evening-before check-in. Hand luggage should also be reduced to the bare minimum to avoid long waiting times at security checkpoints.”
