Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said he expects a less drastic slump in business travel in the long-term, changing his view of the airline industry’s post-pandemic prospects.
“I had previously assumed a drop of 10 to 20 per cent. In the meantime, I have come to believe that the decline will be closer to 10 than 20 per cent,” Spohr told the Saturday edition of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
The German flag carrier forecasts business travellers taking back to the skies in significant numbers from the third quarter onward, Spohr told the Munich paper.
“People have had enough of meeting by videoconference. They want and need to see each other in person again,” Spohr said.
The European airline giant posted a 1-billion-dollar loss in the first quarter and has had to rely on government aid to keep afloat.
For the full year, management expects the Lufthansa Group to make less of a loss in day-to-day operations than in 2020.
Spohr recently announced his intention to repay the government’s billions in aid before the German parliamentary elections on September 26.
