Lufthansa Working Hour Cuts Not Ruled Out - Report

February 1, 2009

Lufthansa can not rule out cutting working hours for more employees, although that is not planned at the moment, the flag carrier's chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said.

"As things look at the present time, this is not planned," Mayrhuber told Der Spiegel magazine, in an interview which will be published on Monday.

On Friday, Lufthansa reached an agreement with its cargo union to shorten working hours for 2,600 employees in its air freight operations.

Mayrhuber said extending such steps to the rest of the airline "would depend naturally on further economic developments."

The German flag carrier will not ask for state help to deal with problems associated with the financial crisis, he said.

Mayrhuber, however, reiterated the airline industry should not be burdened with additional costs from things such as additional night flying and security restrictions or further emission costs.