Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr has become the first airline boss to admit to failings that may have exacerbated the current travel chaos in Europe.
Spohr apologised in a letter to Lufthansa staff, suggesting that the airline may have gone too far in cost-cutting efforts, according to Reuters.
He told employees that the German airline had “made mistakes while saving our company and more than 100,000 jobs over the past two years”.
"Did we go too far in cutting costs here and there, under the pressure of the more than 10 billion euros ($10.6 billion) in pandemic-related losses? Certainly, that too," he said.
Lufthansa is now in the process of hiring thousands of new staff in Europe, though the new hires are not expected to make a material difference to its operations until the winter, he added.
In a statement yesterday, the airline said it was reactivating 14 mothballed Airbus A380 planes in response to increased customer demand and delivery delays.
In 2020, the airline announced a series of compulsory lay-offs in response to huge losses, in addition to a pre-existing target to get rid of a fifth of leadership positions and 1,000 admin jobs.
Travel chaos over the summer has led to thousands of flight cancellations in Europe and the UK, leading Gatwick to cap the number of flights through the airport.
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG) boss Sean Doyle said in May that the aircraft carrier cancelled a tenth of its flights between March and October because of staff shortages.