The catastrophic collapse in demand amid the coronavirus pandemic caused record losses incurred by the Lufthansa aviation concern in 2020.
According to Deutsche Welle, net losses last year amounted to 6.7 billion euros, turnover fell from 36.4 billion in 2019 to only 13.6 billion euros in 2020, said the head of the aircraft concern Karsten Spohr.
The past year has become the most difficult in the history of the company, said Spohr, noting that this applies to customers, staff, and shareholders. The restrictions imposed to contain the pandemic have led to an unprecedented collapse in demand for air travel, he explained.
According to Spohr, the Lufthansa Group airlines in 2020 reduced their supply by 31 percent, the number of passengers (36.4 million) was only 25 percent of the indicators of 2019.
According to Spohr, his concern expects that 2021 will also be difficult and will lead to new losses, in particular, a reduction in traffic to 40-50 percent of the pre-crisis level of 2019. The consequences for the aircraft concern will be long-term – only by the middle of the decade Lufthansa plans to return to 90 percent utilization.