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Frankfurt (pte016/09.04.2003/10:39) - German airline Lufthansa http://www.lufthansa.com has been struck by the current difficult economic and geopolitical situation. The company announced today it was expecting an "unusually high" operative loss for the first quarter of 2003.
The cause for the drastic drop in revenues, as Lufthansa sees it, is the sharp decrease in demand in passenger business. The unchanged poor economic situation in Germany, the war in Iraq and the unpredictable effects of the SARS epidemic have also dampened business.
As a result, Lufthansa says it will have to change its flight plan and introduce reduced hours for its staff. Negotiations on cost-saving measures are also under way with pilots.
"The situation is dramatic," said Lufthansa speaker Thomas Ellerbeck after the board meeting yesterday evening.
This announcement comes just days after the Association of European Airlines (AEA) http://www.aea.be reported a further drop in business among European airlines during the second week of the war in Iraq. Air travel fell by 7.1 per cent compared to the same period the year before. In the first week of the war, air travel had dropped by 12.4 per cent (see newsfox: http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030401041 )
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