Global Airport News
Germany's Lufthansa announced contingency plans to cut flights and drop routes amid a crisis worsened by swine flu, but global airlines warned governments against overreacting to the outbreak.
Lufthansa, which has been slower than other carriers to reduce capacity because of the economic downturn, said it could cut seats on long-haul flights by up to 8 percent this year if demand continued to deteriorate.
Thursday's comments came as European Union health ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, prepared to discuss coordination of possible restrictions on travel to and from Mexico following the outbreak of swine flu there.
France has said it will ask EU health ministers to suspend all flights to Mexico because of the virus, which has killed up to 176 people in Mexico and is spreading around the world.
A European Commission official said Wednesday EU countries can impose individual travel restrictions but the EU's executive cannot impose an EU-wide ban.
