THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Lufthansa has cancelled more than 2,000 flights planned for the summer in a desperate attempt to avoid travel chaos due to bottlenecks at airports caused by staff shortages.
In addition to the 900 cancellations in July, the airline will take a further 2,200 of a total of around 80,000 flights out of the system at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs this summer, Lufthansa said on Thursday. This would mainly affect domestic German and European flights, but not the classic holiday destinations.
Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings had announced in early June that they were cancelling more than 1,000 flights in July due to staff shortages, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. “Flight safety strikes, weather events and, in particular, an increased COVID-19 sick rate have now put additional strain on the system,” the Lufthansa spokesman said on Thursday. There have been sick calls at short notice in the past few days, he said.
Passengers would be informed immediately in the event of cancellations and, if possible, rebooked on other suitable Lufthansa flights, the spokesman announced. Alternatively, passengers could travel domestic routes by train. “So mainly flights will be cancelled for which our passengers can be offered a corresponding travel alternative by flight or by train.”
During the holiday season, passengers should arrive at the airport in good time and make use of digital offers such as online check-in and evening-before check-in, Lufthansa advised. Hand luggage should also be reduced to the bare essentials in order to avoid long waiting times at security checks.
Sola Jolaoso with agency reports
