Europe’s second-largest airline said that subsidiary Brussels Airlines would reduce its workforce by a quarter, while Austrian Airlines would cut staff costs by a fifth. It did not announce how many jobs would be lost at its core Lufthansa brand. Lufthansa has warned it will be forced to take “far-reaching restructuring measures” and drastically reduce costs, even after securing a €9bn bailout from the German government last week. The bailout, which includes a capital increase, will have to be approved by shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on June 25.

The carrier, which swung to a net loss of more than €2bn in the first quarter, said it was loosing through €800m a month, and that the reimbursement of cancelled tickets would continue to be a drag.

The German group, which was forced to ground 700 of its roughly 760 planes in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, was slowly increasing its flight schedule, but said it still expected to fly just 40 per cent of its regular timetable in September. The group will park roughly 40 per cent of its fleet, or 300 aircraft, in 2021 and 200 aircraft in 2022.