Thursday, May 3, 2012

Lufthansa to cut 3,500 jobs to reduce costs

Lufthansa tail fins

German airline Lufthansa is to cut 3,500 jobs as it seeks to cut its administrative costs by a quarter.

The airline will cut those full-time jobs in administrative departments worldwide over the next few years.

The news came as its loss narrowed to 379m euros ($498m; £308m) in the first quarter, from a loss of 507m euros in same period of 2011.

Lufthansa blamed higher fees and taxes, even as quarterly revenues rose by 5.6% to a record 6.6bn euros.

These included an air traffic tax imposed in Germany and Austria and the costs of carbon emissions trading in Germany.

"Higher taxes, fees and charges put a massive strain on our quarterly result," said Christoph Franz, chairman of Lufthansa AG. "We cannot wait until politicians also recognise the damage that one-sided taxes and charges do to aviation and to Europe's reputation as a place to do business."

Lufthansa said that fuel costs had risen by 304m euros in the past year.

Last month, Lufthansa completed the sale of loss-making UK airline BMI to IAG, the company that owns British Airways and Iberia.



Source & Image : BBC

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