Lufthansa to discontinue Germanwings, slash fleet in sweeping restructuring

Frankfurt: Lufthansa will close its Germanwings low-cost airline as part of a broader overhaul including capacity cuts across the group, it said on Tuesday as it warned it could take years for the industry to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

The group, which also owns the Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Eurowings brands, said the coronavirus had forced it to accelerate radical restructuring steps.

Its shares were up 1.1% in late trading.

“It will take months until the global travel restrictions are completely lifted and years until worldwide demand for air travel returns to pre-crisis levels,” it said.