The Lufthansa Group has announced it will cut 22,000 jobs as part of a restructuring plan that will see its airlines reduce capacity across the board due to the coronavirus crisis.

The company, which employs more than 135,000 people globally, said about half of the job losses will be in Germany. It hopes to have an agreement on the move with its trade unions by 22 June. The measures will affect up to 26,000 employees, according to the group.

Lufthansa has warned repeatedly since the beginning of the global coronavirus pandemic that it expects a long and slow recovery in passenger demand. As a result, it is cutting long-term capacity plans by reducing its fleet size by about 100 aircraft, though it said many of the planes it is keeping will remain grounded and gradually brought back into service over the next three years.

Lufthansa¡¯s labour director Michael Niggemann said: ¡°Without a significant reduction in personnel costs during the crisis, we will miss the opportunity of a better restart from the crisis and risk that the Lufthansa Group will emerge from the crisis significantly weakened.¡±

The news comes as Lufthansa awaits EU approval for a €9 billion rescue deal agreed with the German government, which will see the state temporarily take a 20 per cent stake in the company. Last week the group revealed it had lost €2 billion in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of coronavirus travel restrictions.

Lufthansa Group¡¯s airlines are gradually resuming some services over the next three months, though frequencies will remain low until demand starts to recover.