Savings plans at Tuifly - the flight captain in turbulence

The head of the holiday airline Tuifly faces difficult negotiations with the employee representatives. There are up to 900 jobs.

 Jens Koenen

The Tuifly boss has to have difficult conversations with the workers. The holiday airline fleet is to be halved.

Frankfurt Two hearts beat in Oliver Lackmann's chest. One is that of the pilot. Until the corona pandemic, the head of the holiday airline Tuifly himself flew vacationers to Mallorca several times a month. But the crisis has ruined all plans. Now the other Hervon Lackmann is in demand: that of the manager, who also has to make tough decisions.

Tuifly plans to more than halve the fleet from 39 to 17 aircraft. Up to 900 of the 2500 jobs are available - most of them in the flying area. “Our original goal was to heal the cost situation through growth. Covid-19 has now smashed everything, ”Lackmann, 51, explains the measures. It is expected that tourism demand will not return to pre-corona levels until 2023 or 2024. "That's why we have to adjust our capacities, which were already too large before Covid-19."

Tuifly's problem: Unlike the Tui airlines in Belgium and Great Britain, the company operates a fleet that can only be used in busy summer, but not in winter. In addition, Tuifly got seven jets back on the yard that were previously on loan for Eurowings. "The 17 planes are exactly the size that the Tui can utilize even in winter," says Lackmann.

But there is great opposition from the unions. Markus Wahl, the president of the pilot association Cockpit, refers to the increasing demand. A statement that Lackmann considers too optimistic. “We are happy that we can start the first flights again. But we still have the entire capacity on the market, including Condor or Lufthansa. The competition will tend to increase. "