One of the main news of this  summer was the step out of the Eurowings group,

whilst Lufthansa asked our airline to raise the profit margin to the level of the other national carriers of the group: We need to be able to make an 8% profit margin in the coming years as a stand alone company.

The target is set quite high as the company is considered unable to make a good profit margin without being part of a bigger group (reason why the integration into Eurowings had been decided).

While Lufthansa is able to reach a 12% profit margin with high quality yield products all around the world, we are expected to reach 2/3rd of that with a lower cost business model… Obviously, this will come with quite a lot of changes in the company. Hence the upcoming Reboot plan that will be revealed by the end of the year.

However, in the meantime, the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook hit us by surprise. It was a big customer for the company in terms of fights operated on their behalf.

This of course will have an impact on the company’s plans for the next few years in terms of profits, production and hiring. The pilots trainings have also been put on hold for the moment.

We expect reviews of the operated routes, the wet leases, the number of contractors and the training plan in the coming months.

The Dusseldorf base remains unaffected for the moment.

While we are waiting for the full updated Reboot plan, we’ve heard in the press an audit revealed that the number of employees needed to be reduced, as our structure is too complex.

The good news is that more time will be available this winter to improve the maintenance of the MH aircraft. The 330 remains problematic due to the tight schedule of our flights. A spare aircraft would be of good use here but it’s not in the plans for now.