Lufthansa Is Shutting Down an Entire Airline — With Immediate Effect
Photo Credit: The Lufthansa Group is one of Europe's largest aviation conglomerates. Lufthansa Group
Skift Take
Lufthansa had CityLine marked for eventual closure before the Iran war. Soaring fuel prices and labor unrest just ripped away any remaining patience for a gradual wind-down.
Lufthansa Group is closing Lufthansa CityLine — a regional carrier it has operated for decades — effective immediately, with all aircraft grounded and operations ended permanently.
Outside of outright airline collapses, it is one of the fastest shutdowns of an established European carrier in recent memory, and an unusually abrupt end for a subsidiary of a major network airline.
Soaring fuel costs and ongoing labor unrest were cited as key reasons for “the corporate strategy being partially accelerated.”
A spokesperson for the Lufthansa Group confirmed to Skift that the decision marks “the immediate and permanent removal of Lufthansa CityLine's capacity from the program” — not just its Canadair CRJ regional jet fleet. The subsidiary also flies a small number of Airbus A319 aircraft.
