Lufthansa CEO sees
bookings tripling in Summer 2021: media BERLIN (Reuters) -
Bookings at Lufthansa have tripled for next Summer boosted by the imminent
approval of a COVID-19 vaccine, Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told a German
magazine, adding he expects business on average to reach half of 2019
levels next year.
Spohr told
Wirtschaftswoche that the concrete prospect of an effective vaccine against
the coronavirus had boosted confidence among passengers.
"The fact
that people have also already reserved flights for the Easter period shows
how confident they are," he was quoted as saying on Friday.
"I expect
that next year we will be able to achieve half the level of 2019 again on
average, and for the summer and autumn we calculate up to 70%."
Lufthansa expects
to stop bleeding cash next year and hopes to be profitable from 2022, he
said.
Spohr hopes the
German government, which gave the airline 9 billion euros ($10.94 billion)
in state aid in May in return for a 20% stake, will be able to reduce its
holding in Lufthansa from 2023.
He said Lufthansa
has drawn down only 3 billion euros of the bailout and only spent a small
part thanks to strict cost management.
Still, Spohr said
the airline will have to lay off 1,000 pilots in the second quarter if it
cannot seal a wage agreement with unions on cutting salaries and reducing
working hours.
"In the
absence of an agreement, it will probably be the first time in the history
of our company that 500 captains and 500 first officers will have to leave
us in the second quarter of 2021," Spohr said.
|
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar
Merk: Bare medlemmer av denne bloggen kan legge inn en kommentar.