Lufthansa sheds staff

Lufthansa to cut 3,500 jobs to reduce costs

Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa has announced plans to slash 3,500 administrative jobs worldwide in the next few years as part of its cost cutting program

Press TV,

3 May, 2012

Airline Lufthansa AG said on Thursday it would achieve the work force reduction “in the coming years” by combining redundant functions and dropping “activities that do not create added value for our customers,” adding that some functions could be outsourced.

“Only if we restructure our administrative functions and accept a work force reduction can we keep jobs long-term and create new ones,” the company’s CEO Christoph Franz said.

The news comes one day after Lufthansa reported a first quarter operating loss of over 520 million dollars.

The airline now hopes to improve its operating revenues by 2 billion dollars by the end of 2014.

The aim is to help Lufthansa cope with high fuel prices, fierce competition from low-cost carriers and a weak European economy.