Lufthansa, a prominent airline, has made the decision to cancel a significant number of flights in the upcoming months. Approximately 20,000 planned journeys have been eliminated from the airline’s schedule, marking one of the largest flight cancellations by a global carrier as the travel crisis worsens and jet fuel prices rise.
The airline, based in Germany, will be cutting a substantial number of flights between May and October to reduce fuel consumption. A statement released on Tuesday revealed that this move is in response to the doubling of jet fuel prices since the onset of the Iran conflict.
A Lufthansa spokesperson stated that a total of 20,000 short-haul flights, amounting to around 40,000 metric tonnes of jet fuel, will be removed from the schedule up to October. The airline emphasized that despite the cancellations, passengers will still have access to the global route network, particularly long-haul connections, through the consolidation of the European network across the airline’s six hubs.
As of Monday, Lufthansa had already canceled about 120 daily flights. The airline plans to release its summer travel schedule in late April or early May, which will include optimizations to the short-haul offerings for the entire season to ensure schedule stability.
Following warnings from the head of the International Energy Agency about a potential jet fuel shortage in Europe, Lufthansa’s decision to cancel flights aligns with the broader trend in the aviation industry. The airline is among more than 30 carriers worldwide that have been compelled to cancel flights or implement additional charges due to the escalating jet fuel crisis triggered by geopolitical events.
