Lufthansa Closes Thessaloniki Office

In the wake of the many repercussions after the September 11 disaster, some companies were quick to cut costs in hopes of staving off financial disaster. The German carrier Lufthansa, for example, announced the closure of its Thessaloniki office.

The airline said it would stop servicing the Thessaloniki-Munich route from October 29. (Its Thessaloniki office opened some 30 years ago and employs a staff of 15. Lufthansa services the Thessaloniki-Munich route with 13 flights weekly.)

Christiane Henzel, Lufthansa’s public relations officer for Greece, Cyprus and Malta, said the decision was part of the airline’s worldwide cost-cutting campaign. She said passengers would either get a refund on their tickets or travel to their destinations via the new international Athens airport. Another option would be to fly with another cooperating airline.

Lufthansa has already cancelled 20 routes from Germany to various cities around the world and has frozen the purchase of 15-20 new aircraft.

But those are the big things. Lufthansa also cuts back on the small things in order to save every cent it can. The airline, for example, said it is not going to provide any more cocktail snacks on some of its European flights for passengers in business class. Passengers traveling in economy class will find that from now on welcome cocktails will not be available.

There’s more. Lufthansa said travel and seminars are to be held to a minimum in order to reduce expenses. At the same time the airline announced that it has banned its office workers from surfing the net and will not renew many contracts.