Lufthansa airline group to shed 4,000 jobs by 2030, sees stronger profits ahead

Lufthansa Group said Monday that it would shed 4,000 jobs by 2030 with the help of artificial intelligence, digitalization and consolidating work among member airlines — even as the company reported strong demand for air travel and predicted stronger profits in years ahead.

Most of the lost jobs would be in Germany, and the focus would be on administrative rather than operational roles, the company said.

Lufthansa said it was moving to deepen the integration among member airlines Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and ITA Airways, and is “reviewing which activities will be no longer necessary in the future, for instance due to duplication of work.”

It said in a statement that “profound changes brought about by digitalization and artificial intelligence” would increase efficiency across business areas and activities.

The airline group laid out its strategic plans at a presentation for investors and analysts in Munich, saying it was seeing strong demand for air travel amid limits on offerings of flights due to stretched supply chains for planes and engines. That means a tight market that is keeping planes full and boosting revenue.

Lufthansa Group said it expected “significantly increased profitability” by the end of the decade and was readying what it called the largest fleet modernization in the company's history that would add more than 230 new aircraft by 2030, including 100 long-haul aircraft.

The Lufthansa Group is a globally operating aviation group that includes network airlines, point-to-point airline Eurowings and service companies. It had 101,709 employees in 2024 and generated revenue of 37.6 billion euros ($44 billion).