Flying out of Covid turbulence, German air carrier Lufthansa plans to hire nearly 20,000 new employees by the end of 2023 as the aviation industry recovers from the pandemic. According to Chief Executive Carsten Spohr, July and August had been fantastic for the airline and “we have no plans to leave the profitability we achieved in the second quarter,” Spohr said.
During the pandemic, which paralysed air traffic worldwide, the flagship carrier shrank to around 100,000 employees from just under 140,000, causing operational problems this summer in some locations where too many staff had been cut.
A Lufthansa spokesperson added that 12,000 of the positions would be completely new while roughly 8,000 would be to replace employees who were leaving the company.
Amid growing recession concerns due to ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the airline will not be back at pre-crisis capacity levels by 2023. With oil supply already squeezed, the already tough energy supplies are likely to hit Germany harder than other countries.
