Lufthansa to downsize 3,500 jobs to reduce costs

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Lufthansa to downsize 3,500 jobs to reduce costs

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German airline Lufthansa will cut 3,500 jobs to reduce its administrative costs by a quarter.

03 May,2012 08:03 pm

The airline will cut those full-time jobs in administrative departments worldwide over the next few years.The news came as its loss narrowed to 379m euros ($498m; £308m) in the first quarter, from a loss of 507m euros in same period of 2011.Lufthansa blamed higher fees and taxes, even as quarterly revenues rose by 5.6% to a record 6.6bn euros.These included an air traffic tax imposed in Germany and Austria and the costs of carbon emissions trading in Germany.Higher taxes, fees and charges put a massive strain on our quarterly result, said Christoph Franz, chairman of Lufthansa AG. We cannot wait until politicians also recognise the damage that one-sided taxes and charges do to aviation and to Europes reputation as a place to do business.Lufthansa said that fuel costs had risen by 304m euros in the past year.Last month, Lufthansa completed the sale of loss-making UK airline BMI to IAG, the company that owns British Airways and Iberia.