Lufthansa Technik will stop providing line maintenance from a raft of facilities in its home market at the end of 2021 as it continues its restructuring program in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Line-maintenance stations in Bremen (BRE), Dusseldorf (DUS), Hanover (HAJ) and Leipzig (LEJ) plus line-maintenance sub-operations in Frankfurt North (FRA) and Hamburg (HAM) will all shutter by Dec. 31, 2021.

Lufthansa Technik said around 800 jobs across the locations will be dismantled over the next few months. However, the company said it did not anticipate redundancies, suggesting that staff will be redeployed. 

The two-member executive board of Lufthansa Technik made the decision to close the stations, which typically perform lighter checks, as part of the restructuring program RISE launched in 2020. 

“The employees concerned were informed about this decision on Aug. 10. The planning of the concrete implementation of this resolution takes place in the next weeks,” Lufthansa Technik spokesperson Julia Michaelis told Aviation Daily. 

The Lufthansa Group subsidiary is also considering the futures of line-maintenance operations at Berlin (BER), Cologne (CGN), Munich (MUC), Stuttgart (STR) and a sub-operation at Frankfurt South (FRA). Continuing work at these locations could be possible, but “efficiency enhancement measures are used for this and cost reductions on a large scale may be necessary,” the spokesperson said. “Also, at these locations jobs will be greatly reduced.” 

The current crisis demands Lufthansa Technik continues to make changes, but management also argues that the need to reorganize was clearly evident before the crisis. The crisis has only exacerbated the situation.

“Our maintenance business has faced major challenges even before the corona pandemic, also challenged by a very competitive environment,” she added. The company says closing the stations is necessary for the future of Lufthansa Technik and its remaining line-maintenance activities.

“As we close these sites, maintenance will be done by someone else [in the future] and will be organized differently. All customers are informed in a timely manner,” the spokesperson added. 

The closure of the stations will mean a number of airlines besides Lufthansa will have to adjust their line-maintenance plans. For example, the team at Frankfurt North has been serving not only the German flag-carrier but also China Southern Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines, among others.

In its latest results on Aug. 5, Lufthansa Group said Lufthansa Technik continued its earnings recovery. Adjusted EBIT at the subsidiary in the second quarter (Q2) reached €86 million ($101 million), a significant reversal of the €126 million loss recorded in Q2 2020 as the crisis hit. 

For the first half (H1) of 2021, Lufthansa Technik reported adjusted EBIT of €102 million, compared to the loss of €122 million in H1 2020. The upturn in fortunes has been attributed to increasing demand from Lufthansa Technik’s non-European airline customers based in air transport markets that have been recovering faster than Europe.