Lufthansa has closed its CityLine regional subsidiary, citing rising fuel costs, and elderly fleet and ‘additional burdens’ from labour disputes.

With immediate effect, the 27 operational aircraft of Lufthansa CityLine have been removed from service in order to reduce further losses of the loss-making airline. The Canadair CRJ aircraft are nearing the end of their technical operational capability and have comparatively high operating costs.

Lufthansa will also retire its final four A340-600s and will additionally, two Boeing 747-400s will be grounded from October onwards for the coming winter.

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The kerosene consumption of the Lufthansa Group’s passenger airlines is hedged at an above-average rate of around 80 percent based on crude oil prices. However, the remaining 20 percent must still be purchased at significantly increased market prices. This particularly expensive portion of fuel requirements will be reduced by around 10 percent.

Till Streichert, Chief Financial Officer and CFO of Lufthansa Group, says: “The package for accelerated implementation of fleet and capacity measures is unavoidable in light of the sharply increased kerosene costs and geopolitical instability. The goal is to focus our short- and medium-haul platforms more clearly and make them more competitive. In this regard, we had already identified the prospective removal of CityLine from our program 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.”

Ground staff have already received employment at the newly founded Lufthansa Aviation GmbH Cockpit and cabin crew were already offered transfer options at the turn of 2024/2025, which provided for employment at Lufthansa City Airlines with multi-year comparable compensation conditions to Lufthansa CityLine. According to this offer, any differences in working conditions were to be offset by a compensation payment.