Lufthansa makes wider cost-reduction effort

PanARMENIAN.Net - German airline group Deutsche Lufthansa AG says it will combine many of its European short-haul flights with its Germanwings budget carrier as part of a wider cost-reduction effort, The Associated Press reports.

The company says the new carrier will have about 90 planes and start operating in January, flying some 18 million passengers annually.

Lufthansa said in a statement late Wednesday, Sept 19, that the new division, whose name has yet to be decided, will take over all domestic and European short-haul flights outside the airline's main hubs Frankfurt and Munich.

Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz said the restructuring will help achieve "significant efficiency gains."

The Cologne-based group, which includes Swiss and Austrian Airlines, is currently implementing an ambitious cost-cutting program as it struggles to compete with European low-cost carriers such as Easyjet or Ryanair.