The Lufthansa Group has just announced that Germanwings flight operations will be discontinued. This announcement came as the Group launched its first restructuring package due to the current coronavirus crisis. Let’s investigate further.

Demand for flights has plummeted as countries around the world close their borders and restrict movement in a bid to stem the pandemic, plunging even large airlines like Lufthansa into an unprecedented crisis.

“Germanwings flight operations will be discontinued,”Lufthansa said, adding that a number of aircraft will be also be decommissioned.

Around 700 out of Lufthansa’s 763 aircraft are currently sitting on the ground, and it is currently flying at around 5% of its schedule before the coronavirus crisis.

It did not give details about job losses, but said talks with unions “are to be arranged quickly”.

The group, which also owns Eurowings, SWISS, Brussels and Austrian Airlines, said it would decommission or phase out more than 40 of its 763 aircraft in a bid to cut costs.

“It will take months until the global travel restrictions are completely lifted and years until the worldwide demand for air travel returns to pre-crisis levels,” Lufthansa said.