The impact of coronavirus on air traffic is significant. Whilst Lufthansa has cancelled more than 7,000 flights, Luxair has had to cancel individual flights. However, the airline’s strategy is due to change with a targeted cancellation process, which will see timetables adapted as a result of fewer passenger bookings.
Joe Schroeder of LuxairGroup confirmed that the airline will continue to fly to all its destinations, but will reduce flight frequencies to certain destinations in concordance with decreasing demand. LuxairTours has already experienced a drop in bookings.
He added that this has been a hard hit for Luxair, predicting that 2020 will be a difficult year in terms of turnover. Nevertheless, the airline will be able to rely on its reserves built up over the past few years.
Lufthansa has cancelled around 7,100 flights through to the end of March given the extreme drop in bookings caused by coronavirus fears. The German airline has cut its capacity by 150 aircraft in the short-term.
Affected customers are permitted to rebook free of charge. However if they choose not to rebook, they may not be able to receive a refund. Other airlines have taken similar measures, notably reducing or cancelling flights towards Italy.
