Lufthansa: ‘ReNew’ Restructuring Program Cuts Jobs and Aircraft, Halts Germanwings

The Lufthansa Group recently announced that it was cutting administrative and leadership positions as part of a second set of measures concerning its overall restructuring program in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. The Group’s first set of measures had launched in early April.

The Group’s restructuring program is entitled “ReNew” and is scheduled to run until December 2023.

According to the company’s recent announcement, the administration of Deutsche Lufthansa AG will be reduced by 1,000 positions and the number of leadership positions throughout the Group will be reduced by 20 percent.

The Group said that even in the period following the coronavirus crisis, it has a “personnel surplus of at least 22,000 full-time positions” across all its business units.

“Nearly all airlines worldwide are currently affected by personnel surplus. In contrast to many of its competitors, Lufthansa will continue to avoid layoffs wherever possible,” the Group said and called for agreements on crisis-related measures with unions and social partners representing the Lufthansa employees.

“So far, negotiations have only been successful with the UFO cabin union,” the Group said.

Fleet reduction

The Group also announced that it was reducing its fleet by 100 aircraft and that it will not resume the flight operations of Germanwings.

At Lufthansa alone, 22 aircraft have already been phased out ahead of schedule, including six Airbus A380, eleven Airbus A320 and five Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

The announcement follows the approval by Lufthansa shareholders of the stabilization measures of the German federal government.