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TRAVEL NEWS

German airline Lufthansa axes 3,000 flights over staff shortages

German national carrier Lufthansa said Thursday it was cancelling more than 3,000 flights during the summer holidays due to staff shortages as the industry attempts to recover from the pandemic.

Munich airport
A sign announces a cancelled flight at Munich Airport. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Andreas Gebert

The announcement came just days after the airline said it had axed 900 of its July flights due to personnel issues.

“In an effort to inform passengers as soon as possible, Lufthansa will take another 2,200 out of around 80,000 flights at the hubs of Frankfurt and Munich out of the system” this summer, the company said in a statement.

While the initial cancellations had affected flights on Fridays and weekends, the new measures will hit weekday travel.

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It said the flights scrapped would include domestic as well as European routes but “not the well-booked classic holiday destinations”.

In addition, the carrier said passengers should expect scheduling changes.

It attributed the slimmed-down schedule to “flight security strikes, weather events and in particular the high number of coronavirus infections”
creating staffing woes.

The airline said it had attempted to recruit additional personnel to cushion the blow but to limited effect.

Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said last month the airline was projecting a record summer for tourist activity, with the latest data showing passenger numbers bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of passengers on Lufthansa flights had “more than quadrupled” in the first quarter to 13 million, from three million in 2021, Spohr said, when travel restrictions in many markets were more severe.

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WILDLIFE

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

First flooding, and now a plague of mosquitos: hoards of the annoying bloodsuckers are spreading on Lake Constance. Here's what to expect if you are visiting the region.

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

After severe floods in southern Germany, conditions are ripe for mosquito populations to explode, according to an expert in the region. 

Rainer Bretthauer, environmental and climate protection officer at the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance, told DPA that the popular holiday location is already seeing signs of a mosquito plague.

 Bretthauer said that the floods have offered perfect conditions for egg laying, resulting in masses of mosquito offspring.

People living around the area or visiting should be prepared, Bretthauer said. He suggested, for instance, wearing loose-fitting and long clothing.

Timing also plays a role when you’re outside. “They tend to bite during twilight hours when the temperature is higher than 18C,” he said. 

Mosquitos ‘not a bad thing for wildlife’

While growing mosquito hoards may ruin peoples’ camping trips and planned lake vacations, for local wildlife, the mosquitos are a good thing, according to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu).

“All the insects that are now developing are a very important food source for many fish species and also for birds,” said Eberhard Klein from Nabu in Constance.

Around 50 species of mosquitoes are known in Germany. Some of them are counted among the so-called floodwater mosquitoes, which increasingly hatch after flooding.

According to experts, these mosquitos are particularly zealous blood hunters, as they have to reproduce quickly before the favourable conditions disappear again.

Floodwater mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on moist soil, often in riparian zones and floodplains. There they can survive in the soil for several years.

When these zones flood and the temperature is favourable, the eggs develop and hatch mosquitos. Therefore large-scale flooding, as seen recently in Southern Germany, can lead to mass hatching.

Mosquito borne illness is spreading to Europe as temperatures warm

Warming temperatures brought by human-caused climate change have allowed mosquito populations to extend further northward in Europe, including disease-carrying species that were previously limited to regions closer to the equator.

For example, the Asian tiger mosquito is not native to Europe but has already been observed in much of southern and central Europe, including Germany.

Tiger mosquitos are particularly concerning because they are known to spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. Mass outbreaks of these infections have been rising globally. Last year local Dengue outbreaks were recorded in France, Italy and Spain.

With reporting by DPA

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