Lufthansa sacks 17, closes four city offices in India

German air carrier Lufthansa on Saturday sacked 17 employees and announced closure of its offices in four cities as part of restructuring of its sales network in India.
    
The city offices which were closed down yesterday are in Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta and Hyderabad, a spokesman for the German carrier announced here.

"Due to the re-structuring of the four offices, 17 associates of the Lufthansa sales organisation were offered a special severance package," he said.

Lufhansa director (South Asia) Axel Hilgers said, "We have offered a responsible solution for all affected associates including vacant positions in our India headquarter in Delhi."
    
Lufthansa, which operates a total of 22 flights a week from these four metros, said it would continue to serve these cities through its direct sales team and travel agencies to take care of reservations, ticketing and travel inquiries.

This reorganisation adapts to the changed purchasing behavior of Lufthansa India’s direct customers and supports the travel agents. It also reflects the current economic environment in which Lufthansa India needs to realise cost efficient measures and at the same time improve the services to customers," the spokesperson said.
     
The leading European carrier serves seven destinations by offering 53 daily non-stop flights to Frankfurt and Munich from Delhi (14), Mumbai (11), Chennai (7), Bangalore (7), Pune (6). Hyderabad (5) and Calcutta (3).
     
The Lufthansa Group currently employs more than 2,000 employees and has a history of 50 years in India.