COVID-19 bites aviation industry! Lufthansa to lay off 22,000 employees

International travel has been on hold for a few months now and the impact can be seen on the global aviation industry. German airline Lufthansa said Thursday that it would have to slash 22,000 full-time jobs as it predicts a muted recovery in demand for travel following the coronavirus pandemic.

"The recovery in demand in the air transport sector will be slow in the foreseeable future," the airline said. About 100 aircraft will remain grounded after the crisis, leading to "a total of 22,000 fewer full-time positions in the Lufthansa Group, half of them in Germany".

The posts make up 16 percent of the Lufthansa Group's total workforce of 135,000.

The airline said that it is looking at other options like schemes for shorter work hours and crisis arrangements to avoid outright redundancies.

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"Without a significant reduction in personnel costs during the crisis, we will miss the opportunity of a better restart from the crisis and risk the Lufthansa group emerging from the crisis significantly weakened," said Michael Niggemann, who heads the airline's human resources and legal affairs departments.

The airline had 700 of its 763 aircraft grounded in the wake of coronavirus. Its supervisory board last week approved a nine-billion-euro bailout deal from the German government. The bailout will see the government take a 20-percent stake in the group, with an option on a further five percent plus one share to block hostile takeovers.

That would make the federal government Lufthansa's biggest shareholder.

Bernd Riexinger of the opposition far-left Die Linke party on Thursday slammed the state aid plan.

"Nine billion (euros) for a company worth 4 billion and without any consultation on the matter," he tweeted. "If Lufthansa should cut 22,000 jobs, the German government is responsible!"