Lufthansa, Air France-KLM to cut costs after tough first quarter

Two of Europe’s top airline groups, Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) and Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA), have announced cost cuts after labour disputes and high customer payouts linked to flight disruptions deepened first-quarter losses.

The first quarter is often a loss-making one for airlines, with fewer bookings, but this year’s was worse than expected for the two groups due to expensive strike action and disruptions due to capacity limits and cancellations.

Air France-KLM said it would tighten spending for the rest of the year...