As it prepared to mark its centenary, Lufthansa said it would critically reexamine its history during the Nazi era and published a study on the first Lufthansa. CEO Carsten Spohr acknowledged the company was part of the Nazi system. Historians cited by reports say the wartime airline used more than 10,000 forced laborers; Lufthansa says today’s company was founded in 1953 and is not the legal successor.
Under the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, it was forbidden for Germany to have an air force. But with only minor restrictions on civil aviation, Budrass said that Lufthansa became a front for National Socialist rearmament. After 1941, Lufthansa had a prominent role in aircraft repair workshops behind the front lines and, unlike other companies, was able to directly procure forced laborers, including many children who were kidnapped from Nazi occupied territories across Europe.
German airline Lufthansa is one of many big-name brands that collaborated with the Nazis during the Holocaust. As the airline celebrates its 100th anniversary, why does its Nazi past continue to fly under the radar?
After decades of dismissals, the German airline is taking responsibility for its ties to the Nazi Party during the Second World War, after commissioning a study into the company’s own history.
On September 29, 2025, Lufthansa Group announced plans to eliminate 4,000 full-time-equivalent roles worldwide by 2030, mainly in administration and mostly at its German home base. The company linked the restructuring to digitization, AI and automation, saying these changes would increase efficiency; the cuts were announced as a plan, not a completed outcome.
The airline group said it will eliminate a total of 4,000 FTE, or full-time equivalent, roles worldwide by 2030. The company is targeting primarily admin roles, the majority of which will be affected at its home base in Germany, as part of a broader restructuring strategy.
In June 2024, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa’s maintenance subsidiary, was building defense-industry ties through its new LHT Defense division and seeking military-aircraft maintenance work. Plans included maintenance for German Navy P-8 aircraft and bids or participation involving Chinook helicopters, F-35s and NATO E-7s. The article described these as plans, not confirmed contracts.
Lufthansa's subsidiary, Lufthansa Technik, is forging business ties with the defense industry and wants to get involved in the maintenance of military aircraft.
On March 19, 2008, a federal judge approved Lufthansa AG’s $85 million settlement in multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing in the air-cargo shipping industry. The report describes the settlement as part of ongoing litigation; it does not establish that Lufthansa admitted wrongdoing.
Law360 ( March 19, 2008, 12:00 AM EDT) -- A federal judge has placed his imprimatur on Lufthansa AG's $85 million settlement in the ongoing multidistrict antitrust litigation over alleged price-fixing in the air cargo shipping service industry. . . .
On Oct. 15, 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a $4 million penalty against Lufthansa over its treatment of 128 Jewish passengers traveling via Frankfurt in May 2022. DOT said passengers were denied boarding based on alleged misconduct by some travelers, without identifying individual violators; the agency called it its largest airline civil-rights discrimination fine.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced a $4 million penalty against Lufthansa for discriminating against Jewish passengers who were traveling from New York City through Frankfurt to Budapest in May 2022. Based on the alleged misconduct of some passengers, Lufthansa prohibited 128 Jewish passengers – most of whom wore distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men – from boarding their connecting flight in Germany. Despite many of the passengers not knowing each other nor traveling together, passengers interviewed by DOT investigators stated that Lufthansa treated them all as if they were a single group and denied them boarding for the alleged misbehavior of a few. Today’s penalty is the largest ever issued by DOT against an airline for civil rights violations.
In a case brought by Environmental Action Germany (DUH), a Cologne regional court found Lufthansa’s “offset flight” option left consumers unclear about what climate impacts were offset and how sustainable aviation fuel related to their specific flight. DUH said the ruling confirmed its criticism. The report said the verdict was not final.
Environmental Action Germany (DUH) sued Lufthansa for misleading consumers about the airline’s climate compensation practices. The lawsuit argued that Lufthansa's "offset flight" option deceived customers by giving a false impression of the sustainability and effectiveness of its carbon offsets, failing to clarify what was actually being offset or how sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) was linked to the specific flight.
In August 2025, the Ninth Circuit vacated approval of Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s $3.5 million consumer class settlement over alleged untimely COVID-era flight refunds, finding the district court had not adequately examined class counsel’s share or properly valued the deal. The case was remanded. Separately, a U.S. DOT order found Lufthansa violated refund rules, ordered it to cease similar violations and assessed $1.1 million in civil penalties.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection has determined that Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa) failed to provide timely refunds to passengers for flights to and from the United States that the carrier cancelled or significantly changed in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 (Section 41712) and 14 CFR Part 259. Since March 2020, the Department has received over 2,500 complaints regarding Lufthansa’s handling of refund requests after cancelling or significantly changing consumers’ flights to or from the U.S. The airline has received tens of thousands more complaints, claims, and refund requests from passengers directly. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of the refund requests took longer than a hundred days to process. This order directs Lufthansa to cease and desist from future similar violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR Part 259 and assesses the carrier $1,100,000 in civil penalties.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority ruled that Lufthansa’s “fly more sustainably” ad was misleading because it did not explain aviation’s climate impact. Lufthansa said the phrase referred to its Green Fares option, which uses some sustainable aviation fuel and supports climate projects; it removed the ad and said it would drop the phrase from future ads.
Adverts for Air France, Lufthansa and Etihad have been banned for misleading consumers about the airlines' environmental impact.
In a consent order updated June 4, 2019, the U.S. Department of Transportation found that Deutsche Lufthansa AG violated full-fare advertising rules, deeming the violations unfair and deceptive practices. The department ordered Lufthansa to cease and desist from future violations and assessed a $50,000 compromise civil penalty.
This order concerns violations by Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa) of the Department of Transportation’s (Department) full fare advertising rule contained in 14 CFR § 399.84(a). These violations constitute unfair and deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712. The Department directs Lufthansa to cease and desist from future violations of 14 CFR § 399.84(a) and 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and assesses the carrier a compromise civil penalty of $50,000.
On October 30, 2025, a divided Ninth Circuit panel ruled that Deutsche Lufthansa AG must face a same-sex couple’s lawsuit alleging the airline disclosed their marriage to the Saudi Arabian government. The panel said the case had sufficient connections to California for the court to exercise jurisdiction; the allegations remain claims in a lawsuit.
By Lauren Berg ( October 30, 2025, 11:21 PM EDT) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG cannot ground a same-sex couple's lawsuit accusing the German airline of outing their marriage to the Saudi Arabian government, a split Ninth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, saying there are enough strings tying the case to California to meet jurisdiction requirements....
On April 21, 2026, Lufthansa Group announced it would remove 20,000 short-haul flights from its summer schedule through October. The company described the change as schedule optimization rather than a retreat and estimated it would save more than 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel.
Lufthansa Group began April with its 100th-anniversary celebrations. A week after marking this milestone in Frankfurt with a new conference and visitor center, the airline group announced on April 21 that it would remove 20,000 short-haul flights from its summer schedule through October.
On Nov. 27, 2019, the FAA proposed a $6.428 million civil penalty against Deutsche Lufthansa AG, alleging it operated nearly 900 flights without required authorization. The agency said Lufthansa flew about 600 Frankfurt–San Diego flights from March 2018 to May 2019 and 292 Frankfurt–Philadelphia flights from October 2018 to April 2019; Lufthansa had 30 days to respond.
The FAA alleges Lufthansa operated the flights into and out of San Diego International and Philadelphia International airports when it knew it lacked FAA authorization to do so. Foreign airlines can only conduct scheduled flights into and out of airports that are listed in their FAA-issued Operations Specifications, and the FAA alleges neither airport was in Lufthansa’s Operations Specifications.
In September 2026, Belgian union ACV Puls threatened to disrupt Brussels Airlines’ Brussels–Tel Aviv route unless it was discontinued, citing safety and ethical concerns related to the Gaza war. Brussels Airlines said its flights were operating as planned and that it considered the route sufficiently safe to resume; the airline is owned by Lufthansa Group.
Nico Cardone, senior media relations manager at Brussels Airlines, told JNS on Wednesday, “Our flight today has departed without problems; we anticipate that all our other flights will also operate as planned. At this moment, we remain staffing our flights to Tel Aviv the same way as all the other flights in our schedule.