Lufthansa slashes 2,200 flights over staff shortages

Bloomberg

Deutsche Lufthansa AG cancelled 2,200 flights after a wave of coronavirus infections worsened staffing shortages, adding to Europe’s travel chaos as the crucial summer vacation period gets under way.
Germany’s flagship airline scrapped both domestic and European routes for July and August, a spokesman said. That follows 900 cancellations announced earlier this month. Lufthansa fell as much as 3.3% in Frankfurt.
Travel demand has rebounded dramatically in Europe with the lifting of coronavirus curbs, leaving some airlines struggling to cope and subjecting passengers to hours-long queues and cancellations. A new outbreak of Covid-19 infections — while less deadly than previous waves — is causing growing absences from workplaces, worsening acute labour shortages.
Growing labour unrest as workers seek pay increases to keep up with inflation is adding to the problem, with strikes threatened or under way at airlines including Ryanair Holdings Plc and IAG SA’s British Airways.
The developments are a fresh blow to the European aviation industry that was among the worst-affected during the pandemic, with airlines and airports losing billions of euros after the virus burst a decades-long travel boom. Carriers had cut back staffing during the health crisis and were slow to rebuild, worried about the resiliency of ticket sales.