It sounds like Monday won’t be a great day for Lufthansa Group employees…
In this post:
Lufthansa expected to cut 20% of administrative jobs
Reuters is reporting that Lufthansa Group will be announcing major job cuts on Monday, September 29, 2025, at the first company-wide capital markets day in six years, since before the pandemic. While exact details remain to be seen, the expectation is that administrative staff will be reduced by around 20% in the coming years.
This announcement is expected to come as the company reassures investors about its commitment to efficiency. Lufthansa’s shares rose by 3.4%, to their highest level in more than three weeks, after Reuters reported the planned cuts.
The potential job cuts follow a recent announcement whereby Lufthansa Group plans to increasingly centralize management for all airline groups in Frankfurt, so I imagine that the efficiency gains will largely come from that. Lufthansa Group consists of several airlines, including Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels, Eurowings, Discover, and more.
Lufthansa Group has received criticism for its inability to cut costs and also inability grow its core business (Lufthansa), as the company’s flagship airline has been struggling. It’s notable that Lufthansa Group has fewer planes and operates fewer flights than in 2019, but employs 7% more people.
The situation has gotten so bad that Lufthansa CEO Jens Ritter recently claimed that Lufthansa is so unprofitable that it can’t afford all the new planes it has on order. Speaking of added efficiency, Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr recently spoke at a company town hall, claiming that improving margins “will require us also to become leaner in admin because we cannot afford to maintain our work at the cost that we have now because we don’t have the margins to invest.”
My take on Lufthansa’s efficiency focus
First of all, I hate to see job cuts, purely in terms of people losing their livelihood, and no longer having a job in an industry that’s full of passionate people. It sounds like we could see thousands of job cuts, and that’s incredibly sad.
That being said, Lufthansa Group certainly doesn’t strike me as an efficient operation. Maybe the company would even benefit from having fewer people beyond just the cost side, so that they can stick to the basics, rather than over engineering everything.
Lufthansa would be in a much better place if someone a decade ago had simply said “yeah, we don’t have the resources to create a custom business class product, let’s just take one of the existing off the shelf seats.”
The part that continues to blow my mind in all of this is that Spohr still has a job. Nothing against the guy, I’m sure he’s perfectly, umm, human, but has he really been running the company in recent years in a way where you think “yeah, this is definitely the best person for the job?”
There’s a massive talent pool that would love to lead one of the world’s largest airline groups, and it just seems like Spohr isn’t doing much to energize the company, or move it in any direction other than average. Passengers aren’t happy. Employees aren’t happy. And it doesn’t seem like shareholders are terribly happy either.
Obviously this all gets at the dynamics between management and the board, but is the average Lufthansa Group shareholder really happy with Spohr’s performance? That just strikes me as a major area where there could be some more “efficiency.”
Keep in mind that Lufthansa Group management has been most involved in running the Lufthansa subsidiary, yet it’s also one of the most unprofitable airlines in the group.
Bottom line
On Monday, Lufthansa Group is expected to announce thousands of job cuts, including slashing around 20% of administrative jobs. This follows a recent announcement that Lufthansa Group plans to centralize more functions in Frankfurt, so I imagine this is all part of the same initiative.
Lufthansa Group probably does need more efficiency, given that its workforce has grown while its number of flights has decreased. The company certainly doesn’t have much to show for this excess labor. Then again, it seems like the biggest thing that could improve Lufthansa Group’s bottom line would be a new vision, and that will likely require some changes at the top.
What do you make of Lufthansa Group’s upcoming efficiency gains?
Honestly, they would do better to layoff FRA corporate staff and promote ZRH staff to run the whole company.
I am glad that I sold my Lufthansa shares for a slight profit at $11 a couple of years ago. It wasn’t a great investment and it doesn’t look like it will be going forward.
Ben, I just hope this post doesn't get you the Cairo treatment from LH :)
Oh no! Anyway! As far as i am concerned, shut down the LH in Lufthansa and have the swiss take over all operations.
what’s happened for Frau Spohr? Vivian killed that poor italian girl in her BMW. you can hardly believe that she still remains Patron of the Help Allianz… the lufthansa NGO!
Nepotism at its finiest, not a good image on LH, that's for sure!
I wonder if the people who will be cut will also include those who came up with and approved the allergis concept.
AI in the works
How do you know this? Be specific.
Nice photo of the a340. The airline business is cyclical. Let this serve as a reminder to the profit sharing cry baby air stewardesses here in the U.S. that they are disposable.
real "I got mad that a flight attendant didn't want to sleep with me" energy in this post
“… cry baby air stewardesses here in the U.S. that they are disposable.”
And you wonder why all women hate you.
Suppose they will undo a bunch of the airlines within an airline that are run arounds against LH labor unions?
The sad reality is that some of the best performing employees at non-German subsidiary airlines will lose their job to protect German jobs at LH headquarters.
Its an old model being propped up by (declining) OPM flying.
When there is virtually no difference between LH and the LCCs, what's there to attract a regular non-OPM flyer who can get the same for much less elsewhere
Yet they still trying to buy other airlines for billions and start more smaller groups of airlines! The whole board need to be replaced!
Replace Lufthansa with American Airlines and this is still accurate.
Well likely as is usual in Germany no one will actually get terminated, rather Lufthansa will offer compensation packages and people can voluntarily leave
You mean they’ll treat their staff like people instead of cattle? The horror!