Hours after announcing a truce with its cabin crew, Lufthansa painted a bleaker operational picture: soaring jet-fuel prices linked to the Strait of Hormuz crisis are forcing the carrier to cut a further 20 000 short-haul flights through October. The new reductions, confirmed on 29 April, come on top of the 27 CityLine aircraft already grounded and will remove roughly 120 feeder services per day from the schedules at Frankfurt and Munich. Credit-insurer Allianz Trade has warned of physical kerosene shortages by early summer; Germany relies heavily on imports and alternative supply from the United States cannot fully offset Middle-East disruptions. While Lufthansa has hedged around 80 % of its fuel needs, the remaining spot exposure is enough to blow a €550-million hole in its 2026 budget if prices stay elevated. Network planners are prioritising high-yield trans-Atlantic and cargo rotations, meaning that some intra-EU routes popular with business travellers – Brussels, Zürich, Warsaw – will see frequency cuts or temporary suspensions. Travel buyers should therefore rebook critical meetings early and consider rail connections where feasible. Compounding the challenge is the ongoing but unresolved pilots’ dispute over pension harmonisation. Although the Vereinigung Cockpit union has frozen strike plans for now, Lufthansa warned investors that any escalation could threaten its adjusted EBIT target of €2 billion. The capacity squeeze underscores the vulnerability of Germany’s global connectivity to external shocks. Frankfurt Airport’s slot coordinator expects overall German seat capacity this summer to be 7 % below 2025 levels, potentially diverting passenger flows – and related conference business – to Amsterdam Schiphol and Vienna.
Source: boerse-global.de
