Lufthansa tells airline staff action needed on costs

[FRANKFURT] Management at Lufthansa's main airline business has warned staff that action will be needed to compensate falling yields and rising external costs if it wants to avoid slipping into "a dangerous red zone".

Average yields - a measure of ticket pricing - fell by more than 3 per cent in 2014 and cost cuts within the group were nowhere near enough to compensate, Lufthansa board members Karl Ulrich Garnadt and Bettina Volkens said in a letter to staff seen by Reuters on Friday.

Lufthansa Passenger Airlines comprises the main Lufthansa brand, its budget unit Germanwings plus regional units CityLine and Eurowings, with the latter being expanded into low-cost carrier.

The letter to staff was first reported by German magazine Spiegel.

REUTERS