Following strike action and rising fuel prices, Lufthansa has announced a number of cost-cutting measures, including the shutdown of its subsidiary regional brand Lufthansa CityLine.

“In view of significantly increased kerosene prices, which have more than doubled compared to the period before the Iran war, as well as rising additional burdens from labor disputes, the implementation of the corporate strategy is being partially accelerated. To this end, an initial package has been approved that provides for a reduction of the flight program on short-, medium-, and long-haul routes, as well as measures for early fleet modernization.”

Lufthansa CityLine to shut down on April 18, 2026

Lufthansa’s first immediate measure to control expenditure will be the shutdown of its regional CityLine subsidiary on April 18, 2026. The airline stated that its 27 Bombardier CRJ 900 jets are nearing the end of “technical operational capability” and are relatively expensive to maintain.

Even though these jets are around nine to 11 years old, they have much higher cycles, operating up to nine legs per day. Nonetheless, these CRJs will certainly fetch a high price as parts are well in demand for the now out-of-production aircraft type. The regional carrier served as a feeder, funneling traffic to its mainline brand via Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC).

lufthansa cityline crj 900
Credit: AS Photography/Pexels

CityLine’s shut down doesn’t exactly come as a surprise as the conglomerate already had plans to phase out the brand in favor of its other subsidiary Lufthansa City Airlines. However, this abrupt shut down is definitely an eye opener, and will result in inconvenience for passengers booked on the feeder network.

Airbus A340-600 and Boeing 747-400 retirement plans

Lufthansa also plans to phase out some of its older long haulers from its fleet once the end of the summer travel period comes to a close. Its four remaining Airbus A340-600s will be retired by October 2026, while two of its eight Boeing 747-400s will be grounded around the same time. The remaining six will eventually be phased out in 2027 as the company moves towards preparations for acceptance of the long-awaited Boeing 777-9.

Their A340-300s on the other hand live to see another day and won’t be phased out until they start taking on the longer Airbus A350-1000s. The Boeing 747-8is are also safe as they have no plans to retire these quad jets just yet.  

lufthansa airbus a340 300
Credit: MarcelX42/Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 4.0 International

Along with these grounding and retirement plans, Lufthansa also said they will reduce capacity during the winter period. During its 2026/27 winter schedule, Lufthansa will cut short and medium-haul capacity across its main brand by the equivalent of five aircraft as part of a wider restructuring across the group’s six hubs.

Till Streichert, Chief Financial Officer and CFO of Lufthansa Group, says: “The package for accelerated implementation of fleet and capacity measures is unavoidable in light of the sharply increased kerosene costs and geopolitical instability. The goal is to focus our short- and medium-haul platforms more clearly and make them more competitive. In this regard, we had already identified the prospective removal of CityLine from our program as part of our strategic development for some time, independently of the current geopolitical crisis. The current crisis is now forcing us to implement this measure earlier. This is a painful step, particularly with regard to the colleagues at Lufthansa CityLine. It is therefore all the more important now to find continued employment opportunities within the Group.”

Discover Airlines gets nine of A350-900s

Lufthansa will also allocate nine additional Airbus A350s to another one of its low-cost subsidiaries, Discover Airlines. Operating a mix of medium and long haulers, Discover serves a number of leisure destinations across Europe, as well as many parts of the United States, Mexica, the Caribbean, Africa, and island chains across the Indian Ocean.

Most likely Discover will get some of Lufthansa’s hand-me-down A350s while they take delivery of newer birds. This all appears to be part of a broader strategy to spread more flights across the lower cost arms, reserving its mainline operations for more lucrative operations.

Lufthansa has managed to turn a profit every year except in 2020, and 2021, but regular strikes, weaker yields from industry capacity growth, aircraft delivery delays, and Pratt & Whitney engine issues have significantly burdened the passenger airline arm of the group.

With strike action happening yet again, and fuel prices rising exponentially, Lufthansa is moving towards leaner operations to keep its expenses as minimal as possible even if it means putting more weight on its low-cost divisions.

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