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Dear Business Partner,
Together we are facing a situation that is far from ordinary. While the coronavirus has an impact on everybody in all areas of life, the travel industry has almost come to a complete stop. In times like these, I want to communicate openly and in a transparent way with you, our valued Business Partner.
The sudden decline in travel demand and the numerous entry restrictions have forced the Lufthansa Group airlines to adapt quickly to the situation. So far, we have reduced the capacity of the Lufthansa Group airlines until the beginning of May 2020. Current operations are only 5 per cent of our standard
flight schedule. For more details on our special flight schedule, please click here.
Due to ongoing uncertainty over travel planning, we are offering flexible and extensive rebooking options. Already bought tickets will keep their value, rebookings including a change of travel dates and the routing may be done without time pressure until the end of August 2020. While the option of ticket refunds, of course, remain possible, we would like to encourage you to rather make use of our attractive voucher option which includes a 50€ discount for each rebooking. In case a refund request is the only option for you, we’d like to ask for your understanding that due to the extraordinary circumstances, the process may take longer than usual. I would like to mention that a voucher option is supported by the Federal Government of Germany (amongst other governments across Europe). The Lufthansa Group airlines also in fully support this voucher option, since this reflects a proper response to the current situation in our particular industry.
We will continue to listen to you, our valued partners and monitor the situation in order to readjust our flight schedule according to where you want us to fly as travel demand returns. You can count on the Lufthansa Group to be as flexible as possible working with you as your needs change during this critical time.
While many of our employees in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and many other countries have just begun reduced working hours, our service teams remain fully dedicated to support operational requests for B2B Business Partners as well as the travellers. Furthermore, our flight crews and airport staff are focused on taking care of customers at the most critical touchpoints. As a global airline, we are in regular contact with the governmental and health authorities to ensure we are meeting or exceeding their guidelines to keep our customers and staff protected. We have been taking numerous measures to ensure social distancing between passengers along their whole travel chain, including the adaptation of the onboard services.
In addition to our regularly scheduled services, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Edelweiss are currently operating special repatriation flights. In the recent weeks, we have already operated more than 360 flights around the world and brought more than 70,000 travellers safely back to their home countries. More repatriation flights will follow.
I would like to thank you personally for your understanding and for the trust and loyalty you have placed in us – and can assure you that the Lufthansa Group wants to be there for you as a reliable business partner now and, above all, also after the crisis. Because together we will also master these challenging times.
Please stay healthy and take good care of yourself, your families and colleagues!
Yours sincerely,
Heike Birlenbach
Senior Vice President
Sales Lufthansa Group Network Airlines & CCO Lufthansa Airline
Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS | Brussels Airlines, Eurowings
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