German airline, Lufthansa,  is bracing for hundreds of aircraft to remain grounded due to the covid-19 pandemic well into 2022 and that further job cuts at its maintenance and catering businesses were inevitable.

The German airline is set to ground 500 of its 763 aircraft by 2022 due to COVID -19.

In a letter to staff, the airline’s executive board said that 300 aircraft would remain grounded in 2021 and that 200 aircraft would be grounded in 2022.

“In the summer of 2023, when we will hopefully will have put this crisis behind us, we will still likely have a fleet that is 100 aircraft smaller,” the board said in the letter.

The airline group had a fleet of 763 planes at the end of 2019, according to its annual report.

Maintenance unit Lufthansa Technik and catering business LSG would have to face a considerable number of additional jobs to be cut, according to the letter.

Reuters