Summer is just around the corner
lufthansa is investing in greater reliability
In the summer of 2018, more than a third of all European flights arrived late – an unacceptable
number. What were the main causes? What is the Lufthansa Group doing to improve the situation?
We are investing 250 million euros in greater dependability for flight operations. For example in:
Capacity bottlenecks determine the situation
2018 was marked by capacity bottlenecks. Many times, passengers queued at the security checkpoints in major airports for hours. Bottlenecks were particularly prevalent in air traffic control, which was unable to deploy enough controllers to manage the increasing demand. Moreover, the airlines lacked the aircraft reserves to adequately absorb flight cancellations. Transit times between landing and departure were also very ambitious, meaning that delays during the course of the day could often not be compensated.
Every bottle-neck itself causes only a few minutes of delay. However, there are follow-up delays: if an aircraft misses its assigned slot, it must be assigned a new one – more time passes. If the machine cannot compensate for the delay in flight, further delays accrue.
Tackling problems
In October 2018, the aviation industry and policy makers agreed on concrete measures for greater reliability. Key steps at the Lufthansa Group are:
- Increasing aircraft reserves: We are increasing our reserves by 15 additional aircraft to a total of 37 aircraft. This means we can respond to breakdowns and technical problems more efficiently.
- Extending buffer times: The time between landing and departure will be significantly rectified. Eurowings has even ordered scheduled ground times of up to three hours for every seventh aircraft around midday. Any delays can be absorbed and ad hoc flights organized.
- Improving technical reliability: The Lufthansa Group has procured replacement engines and spare parts worth over 100 million euros and is hiring 200 new mechanics.
- A320-CEO on order: In September 2018, six Airbus A320 CEOs were ordered at short notice. Three aircrafts were already delivered in January; the remaining planes will follow in time for the beginning of the summer timetable.
Despite all this, many reasons for delays lie outside of Lufthansa’s sphere of influence. The demand is also on air traffic control, authorities and airports. Therefore, all stakeholders must contribute to the operational dependability of air transport. At this point, we are still far away from an all-clear.
We are investing 250 million euros in greater dependability for flight operations. For example in:
Further content on the topic
Website
Eurowings:
Europe’s most punctual airline and a top customer satisfaction rating
- Frontrunner with over 90 percent punctuality: current statistic shows that the airline has the best European on-time performance among all point-to-point (P2P) airlines / reliability of over 99 percent
- All-time high: Eurowings’ customer satisfaction rating is higher than ever
- Eurowings CEO Thorsten Dirks: “We’re back to the level of quality that our customers can quite rightly expect of us.”
Website
What is aviation doing to improve punctuality and reliability?
Air transport is a highly complex system in which airlines, airports, air traffic control, security companies and public authorities work together. Daily flight operations are also dependent on external factors that cannot be influenced. An overview of the Federal Association of the German Air Transport Industry (BDL).
