German airline Lufthansa expects a very slow demand recovery in the face of the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic and now hopes to reach roughly half of its pre-crisis capacity over the course of next year, a board member told Reuters.
First-quarter capacity is expected to be up to 25% of pre-crisis levels, unchanged from the current quarter and well short of the 50% previously envisaged by the end of this year, said Harry Hohmeister, who is responsible for the group’s Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels airlines. “Maybe a recovery to 50% of the pre-crisis level could be possible next year, and maybe even to 60% with business trips coming back in autumn 2021,” Hohmeister said, emphasizing that those hopes are based on the assumption that the pandemic can be tackled with vaccines and broad testing early next year.
