MUNICH/FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Lufthansa will also have to reduce its original flight schedule next year. In an interview with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (Tuesday), CEO Carsten Spohr explained the step with bottlenecks in personnel and aircraft - also because many engines of the jets from Airbus' A320neo series have to be serviced prematurely due to a material defect. Lufthansa actually wanted to increase its flight capacity next year to 95 percent of the pre-crisis level of 2019. According to Spohr, this will come to nothing.

On the stock exchange, the news only triggered a brief price slide in the morning. Shortly after the start of trading, the Lufthansa share price fell by a good two percent, but turned slightly positive at times in the first hour of trading. Most recently, the share was down half a percent at 7.93 euros, but was still one of the weaker stocks in the MDax, the index of medium-sized stocks. After some ups and downs in recent months, the share has gained around 2.4 percent so far this year.

In the interview, Spohr did not specify the extent to which the bottlenecks will reduce the Group's flight offering next year. "We will adjust the flight schedule for 2024 somewhat and slightly reduce the originally planned growth," he said. "Next year, we will continue to prioritize quality over excessive growth - despite the high global demand."

Lufthansa already had to revise its flight plans for 2022 and 2023 when it restarted after the coronavirus crisis. This was because the company's own workforce and service providers were unable to cope with the rush of passengers. Tens of thousands of flights were canceled early and air traffic in Germany did not grow as quickly as in other European countries.

After the Frankfurt hub, Munich's punctuality has also recently declined, the manager noted. The shortage of workers is particularly noticeable in Munich. In Spohr's opinion, the labor shortage will continue to keep Germany very busy.

The premature maintenance of many engines on Airbus jets from the A320neo family, on the other hand, is causing problems for airlines around the world: In the first half of 2024, 600 to 650 aircraft in the series are expected to have to be grounded worldwide because the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney used a faulty metal powder in the turbines.

According to an earlier statement by Spohr, 64 aircraft in the Lufthansa Group are affected by the problem. According to Spohr, the company will be missing 20 of its 450 aircraft from the A320 model family, which includes the new A320neo, next year due to the repair work.

Other A320neo jets are powered by the rival Leap engine from CFM, a joint venture between Safran and General Electric. At Lufthansa, however, these are comparatively few aircraft./stw/ceb/nas/stk