Airlines agree to provide more aircraft in Germany - transport ministry (updated)

Air Berlin

05/10/2018 12:33

* Lufthansa to put more planes, crew on standby - CEO
    * Flight plans will be adjusted where necessary-document
    * Measures include better staffing of air traffic control

 (Adds details from Lufthansa CEO, joint document)
    HAMBURG, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Airline executives have committed
to providing more aircraft in Germany as part of a raft of
measures to avoid backlogs and delays, a spokesman for Germany's
transport ministry said on Twitter on Friday.
    At a summit in Hamburg, the country's Transport Minister
Andreas Scheuer asked airline executives to commit to measures
to make air travel more efficient in the wake of travel delays
which emerged following the failure of Air Berlin last year.
    Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told a news
conference the airline would put additional planes and crews on
standby. He said Lufthansa has paid out a quarter of a billion
euros in compensation due to delays.   
    Among the two dozen measures agreed in a joint statement
were proposals to improve staffing of air traffic control
centres, speed up security screening at airports, and inform
passengers of delays and cancellations ahead of time.
    Airlines will also try and speed up the turnaround times of
delayed planes and improve flight plans, the document said.
    
    

 (Reporting by Jan Schwartz
Writing by Edward Taylor and Caroline Copley
Editing by Maria Sheahan)
 ((Edward.Taylor@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1187;))