The skyrocketing costs of flights are causing turmoil in the European aviation industry, with major companies canceling and curtailing activity.
Dutch airline KLM has announced it will cancel 160 flights in Europe next month, citing rising fuel costs. As the Dutch arm of the Air France-KLM group clarified, the cancellations concern less than 1% of its total European flight schedule, while underlining that .
At the same time, the German airline group Lufthansa is taking even more drastic measures, immediately suspending the operation of its subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine, which was initially scheduled to close in 2028. The decision is linked to both the increase in kerosene prices and the .
According to Lufthansa’s chief financial officer, Till Streichert, the “current crisis” forced the acceleration of the measures, with 27 aircraft – which are nearing the end of their technical life and have high operating costs – to be permanently retired from Saturday. As he noted, the goal is to limit further losses for the company.
At the same time, capacity cuts are also planned for the parent company, with the gradual withdrawal of six older aircraft from long-haul flights, while the winter schedule will be reduced further by the withdrawal of five aircraft from medium and short-haul routes. Instead, the cost-effective subsidiary Discover Airlines will be strengthened with new A350 aircraft.
“The measures are inevitable in light of the sharply increased cost of kerosene and geopolitical instability,” said the chief financial officer of Lufthansa, which just yesterday celebrated its 100th anniversary.
At the same time, the operation of the company continues to be significantly affected by successive strikes, first of the pilots and then of the cabin crews, further burdening the situation in the European aviation sector.
