Fuel crisis: Lufthansa cancels 20,000 flights between May and October.

Lufthansa has cancelled around 20,000 flights scheduled between May and October 2026 due to high fuel prices .

The German airline itself announced it in a statement: "Approximately 20,000 short-haul flights will be eliminated from the operational schedule ," the statement reads. This decision will save "approximately 40,000 tons of jet fuel, the price of which has doubled since the outbreak of the conflict with Iran."

"The schedule changes reduce the number of unprofitable short-haul flights across the entire Lufthansa Group network," the company announced. "The planned consolidation of the European network is being implemented at the Lufthansa Group's six hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome. Passengers," Lufthansa explains, "will therefore continue to have access to the global route network, especially long-haul connections. However, due to rising jet fuel prices, this objective will be achieved significantly more efficiently than previously."

Furthermore, the medium-term route planning for the coming months "is being reviewed, taking into account the reduction in capacity, and will be published in late April or early May." This review "will include optimizations to the short-haul flight offering for the entire summer season, thus ensuring schedule stability for the period covered by the flight plan."

For flights scheduled for the summer schedule, the Group expects a "basically stable" fuel supply . To this end, Lufthansa "is taking a series of measures, including the physical procurement of jet fuel and hedging price risks."

Lufthansa is Europe's largest airline: it also includes Swiss, ITA Airways, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Discover, and Air Dolomiti. The 20,000 canceled flights do not affect the schedules of the group's other airlines, but only CityLine, the group's loss-making regional subsidiary. This is the largest cut announced by an airline since the start of the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz .

(Unioneonline)