Tag Archives: Germanwings

Worldwide air traffic developments create new perspectives for Lufthansa Group pilots

The Coronavirus pandemic continues having a very serious impact on airlines and its employees. After two years in “crisis mode,” Lufthansa Group flight operations still has to cope with half the number of passengers in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2019.

For captains, the crisis-related Lufthansa Airlines staff surplus has already been reduced in a socially acceptable way with a successful voluntary leave program. Lufthansa also plans to offer first officers the opportunity to exit from their contracts. Additionally, collective part-time agreements can also alleviate existing personnel surplus. Lufthansa continues to discussing this with its social partners.

This means, Lufthansa Airlines will waive compulsory redundancies for cockpit staff.

Michael Niggemann, Executive Board Member for Human Resources and Legal Affairs at Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: “We have worked hard in recent weeks and months to avert compulsory redundancies for the cockpit staff of our core brand – despite the pandemic’s serious impact. It is a great success that we have succeeded to do so.”

The global crisis made painful decisions unavoidable in almost all companies of Lufthansa Group. For example, passenger flight operations of Germanwings was permanently suspended. Some pilots were and can still be transferred to Eurowings until 31 March 2022. An additional 80 pilots will join Lufthansa Airlines in Munich. Solutions continue being sought for all other pilots affected, thereby offering the prospect of continued employment in an existing or newly established Lufthansa Group flight operation.

For pilots 55 and older, Lufthansa Cargo offers a voluntary early retirement program. A remaining need for further reductions will be accomplished by a voluntary leave program designed to avert compulsory redundancies, including pilots not close to retirement age, or possible transfers to Lufthansa Airlines. The goal is to find solutions together with the social partners.

Better prospects in the long term

In the long term, the global recovery in demand for air transport will again lead to significantly better prospects for pilots – both within and outside the Lufthansa Group. For this reason, the Lufthansa Group’s new flight school under the umbrella of Lufthansa Aviation Training will start training new pilots as of summer 2022. The theoretical part of the approximately 24-month training program will take place in Bremen or Zurich; the practical part will take place at locations in Goodyear, Arizona/USA, Grenchen/Switzerland or Rostock-Laage/Germany. In the future, training will lead to receiving an EASA-certified ATP license that qualifies for entry-level positions within and outside the Lufthansa Group. The goal is quality training and maximizing career prospects for graduates.

Lufthansa announces “ReNew” restructuring program, Germanwings will not return

Lufthansa has made this announcement:

The Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG has approved a second set of measures as part of its overall restructuring program in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. With the first set of measures launched in early April it had been decided, among other things, to reduce the fleet by 100 aircraft and not to resume the flight operations of Germanwings.

Following the approval by Lufthansa shareholders of the stabilization measures of the German federal government and the commitments made by the governments of Austria and Switzerland, the Group’s financing is currently secure.

However, the complete repayment of government loans and investments, including interest payments, will place an additional burden on the company in the coming years, making sustainable cost reductions inevitable for this reason as well.

The comprehensive restructuring program entitled “ReNew” is scheduled to run
until December 2023 and is headed by Dr. Detlef Kayser, Member of the Lufthansa Group Executive Board and responsible for Airline Resources & Operations
Standards. It also includes restructuring programs that are already underway at the Group’s airlines and service companies. These will continue unchanged.

In detail, the following resolutions were adopted by the Group Executive Board and communicated internally:

Following the downsizing of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the executive board and management bodies of the subsidiaries will be reduced in size compared with 2019. In a first step, the number of board members was reduced by one position each at Lufthansa Cargo AG, LSG Group, and Lufthansa Aviation Training.
Government loans and equity participations are to be reduced as quickly as possible to avoid a further increase in interest charges (restructuring program element “RePay”).
The number of leadership positions throughout the Group will be reduced by 20 percent.
The administration of Deutsche Lufthansa AG will be reduced by 1,000 positions.
The process of transforming Lufthansa Airline into a separate corporate entity is being accelerated.
The already planned reduction of sub-fleets and the bundling of flight operations will be implemented. This measure includes the long- and short-haul leisure business at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs. At Lufthansa alone, 22 aircraft have already been phased out ahead of schedule, including six Airbus A380, eleven Airbus A320 and five Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

The financial planning up to 2023 provides for the acceptance of a maximum of 80 new aircraft into the Lufthansa Group carriers’ fleets. This will reduce the investment volume for new aircraft by half.

Due to the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which are particularly serious for air travel, there is a calculated personnel surplus of at least 22,000 full-time positions in the companies of Lufthansa Group even in the period following the crisis. Nearly all airlines worldwide are currently affected by personnel surplus. In contrast to many of its competitors, Lufthansa will continue to avoid layoffs wherever possible. This requires agreements on crisis-related measures with unions and social partners representing the Lufthansa employees. So far, negotiations have only been successful with the UFO cabin union.

Germanwings

From Wikipedia:

Since 2016, Germanwings has been a wet lease operator for its sister company Eurowings. The Germanwings brand has not been used since then, although the IATA code “4U” continued to operate under the Eurowings brand until March 2018, when Germanwings’ own IATA-Code 4U was abandoned and replaced with the Eurowings designator EW. Germanwings was closed in April 2020.

On April 7, 2020, Lufthansa previously announced that it would be shutting down Germanwings, partly due to the large travel ban during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Germanwings aircraft photo gallery:

Germanwings aircraft slide show:

https://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/frame/slideshow?key=6m9CF6&speed=3&transition=fade&autoStart=1&captions=0&navigation=0&playButton=0&randomize=0&transitionSpeed=2

German cabin crew union (UFO) to strike Germanwings

Germanwings’ cabin crew union (UFO) will strike the carrier from Monday to Wednesday next week.

Germanwings operates its aircraft for Eurowings.

Eurowings issued this statement:

The UFO organization has called the cabin crew of Germanwings flight operations to a three-day strike from December 30, 2019, 00:00 hours, to Wednesday, January 1, 2020, 24:00 hours. This strike is unfounded and incomprehensible to us.

Eurowings wants to minimize the impact of the strike on its passengers and is preparing a special flight schedule for the strike period, which will be published on Saturday afternoon. It should be noted that only 30 of the approximately 140 Eurowings aircrafts are operated by Germanwings.

Germanwings aircraft photo gallery:

Eurowings introduces its “Sky Blue” cabin crew uniforms, phases out the Germanwings uniforms

More than 3,200 flight attendants take off for the Eurowings Group – since the beginning of November all of them in uniforms in ‘Sky Blue’.

“Now we have a uniform appearance in the cabin and present ourselves to our guests as one company – another visible milestone towards a uniform brand presence in all our flight operations,” says Michael Knitter, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Eurowings Group.

Around 100,000 uniform parts were required for the change of uniform, an average of 30 items of clothing and accessories for each flight attendant. All articles are Öko-Tex-certified and, with a few exceptions, suitable for washing machines.

The last 700 cabin employees at Germanwings changed from blackberry-colored uniforms to ‘Sky Blue’. The dress was a bestseller: more than 500 flight attendants ordered this ‘one-piece’. This means that every female cabin member has at least one of the Eurowings uniform dresses in their wardrobe.

The new uniform in ‘Sky Blue’ was introduced three years ago with the new Eurowings brand identity. The blue uniform is well received by guests and flight attendants alike. Knitter: “It looks fresh, modern and lively – so it suits our crews perfectly.”

Not only are the Eurowings crews on the move in a uniform look, the airline is also pushing ahead with the harmonisation of its brand image elsewhere.

Soon all aircraft will also be painted in Eurowings colors and provided with Eurowings lettering.

This will also mean the end of the Germanwings brand with the repainting and integration. Germanwings currently operates under the Eurowings code and brand although all aircraft have not yet been repainted.

All photos by Eurowings.

Lufthansa Group improves its financial results for the first half of 2015

Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa) (Frankfurt) today issued this financial report for the first half of 2015. The group produced a profit of €954 million ($1.0 billion) for the first six months of 2015, compared to a loss of €79 million ($86.3 million) in the same period a year ago. Here is the group’s report:

The Lufthansa Group reports solid business development for the first half of 2015 and improved results in all of its operating segments. The Adjusted EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Tax) rose by EUR 290 million year-on-year to EUR 468 million. For the six months ended June 30, sales increased by 8.5 percent to EUR 15.4 billion, with traffic revenue accounting for EUR 12.1 billion of that figure.

Yields for the Lufthansa Group’s passenger airlines rose by 2.4 percent in the first half of 2015, which was mainly exchange rate related. Had it not been for the tailwind from a weaker euro, however, yields would have been appreciably lower, in line with expectations.

In the second quarter alone, yields declined by 5.7 percent after adjusting for exchange rate effects. Although unit costs as a whole also rose mainly as a result of currency exchange rates, the EUR 309 million reduction in fuel costs coupled with improved sales and capacity utilization more than compensated for the reduction in prices. All currency effects in the first six months net to a total negative impact of EUR 158 million. The net effect is negative as Lufthansa Group has higher costs in foreign currencies, among others due to fuel spending in US Dollar, compared to the revenue side in foreign currencies.

The Group’s net result for the first six months of the year rose to EUR 954 million, compared with a net loss of EUR 79 million for the same period in the prior year. In addition to a higher operating result, this is mainly due to the increase in the financial result. More than half of the Group’s net result was attributable to an accounting effect resulting from the appreciation in equity capital of EUR 503 million following the redemption of the jetBlue convertible bond in the first quarter. In the second quarter, assessments of interest and exchange rate hedging instruments as well as fuel hedging options had a positive impact, increasing the result by a total of EUR 176 million.

Simone Menne, Chairman of the Financial and Aviation services of Deutsche Lufthansa AG said:

“Our first-half results are solid. Aside from the positive development of our business operating areas and, in particular, our passenger airlines, which gained extra momentum in the second quarter, the fall in fuel costs is largely responsible for the improvement in our results. We will, however, not be misled by that, since we assume that the price level for airline tickets will not recover. We will therefore continue to work consistently on the competitive focus of the Lufthansa Group.”

In the second quarter, the Lufthansa Group achieved an Adjusted EBIT margin of 7.6 percent. Lufthansa Passenger Airlines and, in particular, Swiss played a crucial role in this positive development. The Passenger Airline Group recorded a margin of almost 8 percent in the second quarter, with Swiss, with a margin of over 11 percent, posting an exceptionally good result – also in comparison to others in the sector.

Germanwings also remains on a successful course, and will close the current year in profit for the first time.

Simone Menne:

“Our strategic focus is right. On the one hand, our premium brands – Lufthansa and Swiss – are very successful, and at the same time Germanwings and Eurowings are also showing good business developments as secondary brands. We are focusing on the premium quality of our hub airlines and the high level of competitiveness of our secondary brands in point-to-point traffic. This approach makes us profitable and fit for the future within the airline market”.

In the first half year, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines improved its result by EUR 181 million, Swiss by EUR 90 million, based on an Adjusted EBIT of EUR 178 million.

While Austrian Airlines reported a loss of EUR 17 million in the first half-year, it managed to increase the Adjusted EBIT by a solid EUR 27m compared with the previous year.

However, in the second quarter, Lufthansa Cargo was unable to maintain its good performance of the first quarter. With the introduction of the summer timetable, Lufthansa Cargo’s competitors significantly increased their freight capacity in many markets, thereby placing prices under increasing pressure. Eventually, the logistics segment achieved an improvement of EUR 7 million in the Adjusted EBIT to EUR 50 million in the first half-year.

The other business segments also managed to improve their half-year results:

Lufthansa Technik by EUR 41 million to EUR 268 million and LSG SkyChefs by EUR 17 million to EUR 26 million.

The equity ratio rose again to 17.5 percent at the end of the second quarter due to the higher actuarial interest rate and the resultant decrease in pension provisions. The ratio was therewith higher than for the full-year 2014. Although pension liabilities declined as a result of the 2.9 percent increase in the actuarial interest rate, at EUR 6.6bn overall pension liabilities still remain at a very high level.

Simone Menne: “With regard to pension liabilities and equity, it can also be said that developments throughout the second quarter have been positive, even if they were strongly driven by external factors. The need for sustainable structures in our pension scheme and transitional pension arrangements remains unchanged, nevertheless. The ambitious investment program to which we are committed to in the coming years is part of our strategy to ensure our sustainability. In order to generate the necessary funds we need the right conditions in all the business areas and companies within the Lufthansa Group.”

In the first half, operating cash-flow rose by almost 45 percent to EUR 2.5bn. At the end of the first half-year, a free cash flow of just over EUR 1bn was reported – almost double that of the previous year. Against this background, net indebtedness decreased substantially by 31 percent compared to the full-year 2014.

As planned, capital expenditure rose year-on-year. Amongst other things, the delivery of two further Airbus A380s and four Boeing 747-8s as well as the modernization of First and Business Class on the long-haul fleet and the installation of the new Premium Economy Class were contributory factors. Gross expenditure in 2015 will total EUR 2.9 billion. For the following years, a decline in the level of investment to EUR 2.5 billion is planned.

Lufthansa confirms its outlook for the full-year 2015 with an Adjusted EBIT of more than EUR 1.5 million before strike costs.

Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. Lufthansa is approaching the retirement of its remaining Boeing 737 fleet (Boeing 737-300s and 737-500s). The Classic 737 is likely to be retired by the end of the year depending on schedule demand although this remains fluid. Boeing 737-330 D-ABXL (msn 23531) taxies at Zurich.

Lufthansa aircraft slide show:

Lufthansa and Germanwings are assuming the long-term social care for the relatives of the victims of flight 4U9525

Lufthansa Group has issued this statement:

Lufthansa and Germanwings are assuming also the long-term responsibility for the outcome of the crash of the Germanwings flight 4U9525. Thus, in particular, children and teenagers who have lost one parent or both parents shall receive support for their education on the long-term. For this purpose a fund of up to €7.8 million shall be made available on a fiduciary account.

Furthermore, an aid fund is being set up, which shall, over a term of three years provide individual support for aid projects of the relatives. Project funds shall be available in the sum of up to €2 million per year. Projects that are related to the victims are those being promoted. A Board of Trustees has been contracted to decide on the fair distribution of the funds, and shall be employed over the coming months.

Besides the financial support memorials shall be set up in four locations affected by the tragedy over the coming months. A commemorative plaque shall be set up at Barcelona airport and at the company headquarters of Germanwings in Cologne. In the vicinity of the location of the crash in Le Vernet a “room of silence” is planned. For the victims from Haltern trees have already been planted on the wish of the bereaved.

The relatives of the victims and their lawyers shall be informed on further compensation over the next few days. As a first step, Germanwings and Lufthansa have paid off an advanced compensation in the amount of €50,000.00 to close relatives.

Lufthansa Cargo to bring home the remains of the victims of Germanwings flight 4U9525

Lufthansa Group (Frankfurt) tomorrow (June 9) will operate a special Lufthansa Cargo (Frankfurt) McDonnell Douglas MD-11F flight from Marseille to Dusseldorf which will bring home the remains of the victims of Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn) ill-fate flight 4U9525 which crashed in the French Alps. Transfer of the remains to the victim’s families will occur on June 10. Lufthansa Cargo will operate more flights in the coming weeks until the end of June. The group issued this statement:

Lufthansa is working with all its available resources to ensure the repatriation and transfer of victims of the Germanwings flight 4U9525 to the relatives in the originally planned schedule. To start off the repatriation flights, Lufthansa will arrange at short notice a special flight with a MD-11 of Lufthansa Cargo from Marseille to Dusseldorf. The plane will take off from Marseille on June 9 at 20:50 and is expected at Dusseldorf at 22:30. There will be 30 coffins of the victims of flight 4U9525 on board.

The repatriation of the victims was initially scheduled for next week. At short notice, however, a delay had resulted due to regulatory requirements. The Federal Government Commissioner for the victims’ relatives had then turned immediately to the authorities and received assurances that preparations for repatriation could be made immediately.

After this first special flight to Dusseldorf, the other victims will be gradually transferred to their home countries in the coming weeks. The French authorities are working hard in order to create the formal conditions for the transfer of the victims as soon as possible. Lufthansa is in close contact with the relatives to ensure that the transfer of the victims is carried out according to the relatives’ wishes.

Copyright Photo: Pascal Simon/AirlinersGallery.com. McDonnell Douglas MD-11F D-ALCM (msn 48805) departs from the Frankfurt cargo hub.

Lufthansa Cargo aircraft slide show:

Lufthansa Group reports a first quarter profit of €425 million ($474 million)

The Lufthansa Group (Frankfurt) reported a net profit of €425 million ($474 million) for the first quarter. Here is the full report:

The Lufthansa Group has reported a positive course of business for the first quarter of 2015. At total revenue of nearly 8 per cent higher, the EBIT and adjusted EBIT both rose by EUR 73m. Both key performance indicators were thus 30 per cent higher than in the previous year. The Group closed the first quarter with an adjusted EBIT of EUR -167 m (previous year: EUR -240 m).

Simone Menne, Chief Officer Finance and Aviation Services of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, says: “All operating business segments were able to increase their results in the first quarter. Above all, Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich) and Lufthansa Cargo (Frankfurt) have done better than in the previous year. But Lufthansa German Airlines has also shown a positive development, although it was worse hit by strikes and other one-off effects than in the previous year.”

The Group result rose significantly more strongly than the adjusted EBIT in the reporting period. With a plus of EUR 677 m in comparison with the same quarter in the previous year, the Lufthansa Group achieved a consolidated result of EUR 425 m. An extraordinary effect from the premature exchange of JetBlue swaps made a significant contribution to this development. This transaction alone improved the financial result without an effect on equity by EUR 503m.

The result was once again overshadowed by the consequences of the strike called by the trade union Cockpit among the pilots of Lufthansa German Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo and Germanwings on a total of six days between January and March 2015. Flight cancellations caused by strikes led to a burden on the result of EUR 42m. Due to weaker advance bookings in the following quarters as a consequence of the strike, Lufthansa expects a further burden on the result of EUR 58m.

Cash flows, which are important in view of high total investments, developed positively in the reporting period. Cash flow from operating activities rose to EUR 1,394m (previous year: EUR 855m), the free cash flow improved to EUR 532m (previous year: EUR 195m).

The actuarial interest rate for valuing pension obligations declined further in the first three months of the year, in Germany from 2.6 per cent to 1.7 per cent now. Thus the arithmetic pension burden rose by EUR 3.4bn. This was contrasted with a growth in pension assets of around EUR 500m. The equity ratio fell by 5.7 percentage points to 7.5 per cent now.

“This development shows once again how volatile the key figure ‘equity ratio’ has become since the introduction of the new IFRS accounting standards. We are not alone in this situation. However, other groups have already made the necessary structural change from a cover oriented to a contributions oriented pension commitment. Here, more urgently than ever, we need sustainably financeable solutions in place of obsolete structures. We can only achieve this together with our collective bargaining partners,” says Simone Menne.

Operating costs and income showed strong fluctuations in comparison with the same quarter in the previous year. What was decisive here was the significantly lower oil price, the continuing weakness of the euro and low interest rates. Fuel costs were EUR 209m lower than in the same quarter in the previous year, while expenses on fees went up by nearly 7 per cent, despite the lower number of flights and passengers. The weak euro and the rise in pension expenses also led to an increase in staff costs of nearly 7 per cent.

Simone Menne summarised the interim report for the first three months of the year: “We see positive developments in the result and in cash flow. This shows we are on the right course. At the same time, we continue to see great pressure to act. The enormous pension burdens are putting considerable pressure on our equity. And we cannot accept the continuing increase in fees or the development of our unit costs. Great efforts remain to be made here in order to strengthen the international competitiveness of all the business segments of the Lufthansa Group.”

Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. Swiss and Lufthansa Cargo did better than in the same quarter than the previous year. The aging Swiss Airbus A340-300s will be replaced with the new Boeing 777-300 ERs on order. A340-313 HB-JMK (msn 169) taxies at the Zurich hub.

Swiss aircraft slide show:

The New York Times: FAA raised questions about Andreas Lubitz’s depression before Germanings crash

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (Washington) raised questions in 2010 on whether it should have granted a pilot’s license to Andreas Lubitz according to report by the New York Times. Lubitz in March flew his Germanwings Airbus A320 into a mountain in the French Alps killing all aboard.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz hid a medical illness from the airline

German investigators have discovered a medical leave note from a doctor issued for Germanwings first officer Andreas Lubitz (above) that included the day of the French Alps crash, the Dusseldorf public prosecutor’s office said, according to CNN.

Lubitz tore up the medical leave slips and kept the undisclosed illness secret from his employer. It is suspected the illness could have prevented him from advancing in his aviation career.

Note: The German prosecutor has just confirmed it was a medical illness (not a mental condition). It has been reported he was deemed “unfit for work” and was hiding this information according to German investigators.

Read the full story from CNN: CLICK HERE

Video message by Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr: