Lufthansa Cargo’s fleet of four Airbus A321 freighters has been temporarily grounded as a result of cuts made to sister airline Lufthansa CityLine that had been operating the aircraft.
Yesterday, the German aviation giant announced that it would immediately remove Lufthansa CityLine’s 27 operational aircraft as part of measures aimed at tackling rising costs and labour disruption impacting its German operations.
Lufthansa Cargo confirmed to Air Cargo News that the move would also result in its four Airbus A321 freighters that are operated by CityLine being grounded while a solution is found.
“Our strategic European network is a key component in maintaining global supply chains. Lufthansa Cargo and the Lufthansa Group are aware of this responsibility,” the cargo business said in a statement.
“We will now be working with the Lufthansa Group to find a way to offer this cargo capacity to our customers again as soon as possible.”
The decision to ground the CityLine fleet was part of a series of measures announced yesterday by Lufthansa in view of increased kerosene prices, which it said had more than doubled compared to the period before the Iran war, as well as rising additional burdens from labour disputes.
The measures will also see the group remove four Airbus A340-600s and two Boeing 747-400 from its fleet in October. There will also be a further consolidation of short- and medium-haul traffic across six hubs of the Lufthansa Group.
Lufthansa Group chief financial officer Till Streichert said: “The package for accelerated implementation of fleet and capacity measures is unavoidable in light of the sharply increased kerosene costs and geopolitical instability.
“We had already identified the prospective removal of CityLine from our programme as part of our strategic development for some time, independently of the current geopolitical crisis.
“The current crisis is now forcing us to implement this measure earlier. This is a painful step, particularly with regard to the colleagues at Lufthansa CityLine.
“It is therefore all the more important now to find continued employment opportunities within the Group.”
Lufthansa Cargo launched its A321 freighter network in 2022 to cover to intra-European demand and demand between Europe and North Africa.
The 28-ton capacity converted aircraft were based at Frankfurt Airport and operated by CityLine under a wet lease agreement.
According to FlightRadar data, none of the airline’s A321Fs have operated a flight since 15 April.
Lufthansa Cargo flight operations have also been affected by strike action being carried out by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilot union over contract conditions and pension provisions.
The strike started on Monday and Tuesday but was then extended to Thursday and Friday after an agreement could not be reached.
The strike action included pilots working for Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Airlines and Lufthansa CityLine.
