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Brussels / Frankfurt (dpa) - Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr has asked the EU to continue to suspend the allocation rules for take-off and landing rights at busy airports during the Corona crisis.
If the previous proposal of the Commission for the summer remains, Lufthansa could be forced to empty empty flights that are harmful to the environment in order to maintain the attractive slots.
“That would be crazy,” said the CEO of the Lufthansa Group on Thursday at an event organized by the Eurocontrol air traffic controller.
The take-off and landing rights at the hubs at certain times are the core of the system of a network company like Lufthansa, which can only use its long-haul flights with transfer passengers.
In order to receive the slots for the next season, they have to be used to at least 80 percent during normal times, otherwise they would be re-assigned by the supervisory authorities.
The slot rules were and are worldwide suspended due to the Corona crisis.
The EU, on the other hand, has proposed for the summer flight schedule that at least 40 percent of these must be used in order to maintain the slots.
So far, the hoped-for recovery in air traffic has not been achieved due to new corona mutations and the ongoing travel restrictions.
Eurocontrol boss Eammon Brennan put the current European traffic at only 14 percent of the level from the previous year.
February was going to get worse, said the pilot representative.
According to Spohr, the Lufthansa Group has set itself up for a total annual output of between 40, 50 or 60 percent in three scenarios.
A strong recovery as a result of increased vaccinations and more tests will be experienced “sometime in the summer”, said the Lufthansa boss.
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