Lufthansa is scaling back plans to increase its capacity in the winter season due to lower-than-expected numbers of reservations.

The German carrier said it would expand passenger capacity by 4 percent starting October 29 instead of the previously planned 6 percent, in response to deteriorating economic conditions.

"We are removing part of the anticipated additional capacity from our plans by reducing the frequency of services, cutting some connections, and deploying smaller aircraft," the head of Lufthansa's passenger operations, Carsten Spohr, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

"These kinds of decisions must be made early rather than flying empty planes through a crisis."

Under pressure

This is the second time the Cologne-based airline has downgraded its winter capacity figure this year. In July, Lufthansa announced it would halve its plan for winter capacity growth from 12 percent to 6 percent.

The company said Wednesday that operating profit for 2011 will fall short of last year's 876 million euros ($1.2 billion). Lufthansa shares fell 5 percent in trading at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange after the announcement.

Germany's second-largest airline, Air Berlin, also announced cost-cutting measures this week. It plans to drop 18 planes from its fleet of 170 aircraft and cut at least 100 services per week to save some 200 million euros annually.

Author: Sam Edmonds (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Martin Kuebler