Lufthansa has cut its summer flight schedule. The reason for this is still capacity problems in the overall system, such as those that occurred last year when air traffic restarted after the Corona shock.

"Currently, the staff shortages in the industry across Europe have not yet been completely overcome," said a spokesman for the group's core brand in Frankfurt. It is therefore preferable to take flights out of the program now rather than having to cancel them at short notice like last year. The passengers could plan better that way.

Airlines boss Jens Ritter explained a few days ago that close joint planning had been established with the “system partners”. This means airports, air traffic control and other service providers. "Every single stone" will be turned over, Ritter had announced.

No figures for the current flight cancellations

He recalled the chaos of 2022, when rapid growth pushed the industry to its limits. The consequences at German airports were delays and cancellations as well as long waiting times, for example at baggage claim and security checks. Especially at its Frankfurt hub, Lufthansa had to significantly cut back the originally planned offer over the summer because not enough ground staff were available. This shouldn't be repeated.

The spokesman gave no figures for the current flight cancellations and refrained from assigning blame. It's a joint plan. The plans covered the entire summer schedule from late March to late October. The "Wirtschaftswoche" had previously written that 34,000 flights had been canceled from the original plan.