The Lufthansa Group will operate a “maximum” of 25% of the capacity made available between October and December last year.

Across the group's carriers, 125 fewer aircraft than originally planned will be operated throughout the winter. Lufthansa believes the measures will ensure its flight operations continue to be cash positive.

Lufthansa’s hub strategy is proving to be an advantage, the airline said, enabling it to “offer connections that would otherwise be uneconomical as point-to-point connections during this current market environment.”

So far in 2020 Lufthansa Group airlines have offered 33% of 2019’s capacity with an average load factor of 68%—15 percentage points lower than last year.

The group has carried a total of 32.2 million passengers, 29% of the number for the same period last year.

In the last three months these metrics have deteriorated, with offered capacity falling to 22% of last year's level and load factors at 53%—33 points below 2019.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said: "We are now at the beginning of a winter that will be hard and challenging for our industry.

“We are determined to use the inevitable restructuring to further expand our relative competitive advantage. We aspire to remain the leading European airline group following the end of the crisis.

"People around the world have a great desire to travel again soon.”

Photo credit: Lufthansa