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Two of the worlds major airlines, Lufthansa and Quantas, are reacting to the slowdown in air travel and declining passenger numbers by delaying orders for new aircraft and ground parts of their existing fleet.

Germany’s largest airline Lufthansa has increased its grounded aircraft to 24, which represents 10% of its fleet. Lufthansa Cargo is also seeing a decline in demand for its services and has introduced shorter working hours for all staff and its managers have taken a 10% voluntary pay cut.

Lufthansa flights from Germany to the UK have been affected by some of these cutbacks. London City has lost its Lufthansa flight to Berlin, as the airline has switched the route to London Heathrow (to allow it to use an Airbus A319 aircraft on the route). However, there are some positives for the UK, for example a third daily service between Edinburgh and Frankfurt is being added, plus there will be a new Inverness to Düsseldorf service for summer 2009.

Australian national carrier Quantas has revealed plans to defer delivery of four Airbus A380 aircraft by around 12 months. 12 Boeing 737-800 aircraft have also been deferred by up to 14 months. The airline is also grounding 10 aircraft, which will result in a 5% capacity drop on domestic routes. Staffing levels will also be adjusted, with the airline expecting to make 1250 full time staff redundant.