A major airline has revealed its plans to permanently discontinue its regional brand due to the ongoing war in Iran and the "significantly increased kerosene prices".

German Lufthansa said "the implementation of the corporate strategy is being partially accelerated," meaning that "the 27 operational aircraft of Lufthansa CityLine will be permanently removed from the flight program".

This came into effect on April 18, the company said with a note on its website, "in order to reduce further losses of the loss-making airline".

"The Canadair CRJ aircraft are nearing the end of their technical operational capability and have comparatively high operating costs," the message also read.

The company's strategy also included a reduction of long-haul capacity, which will have a total of six intercontinental aircraft at the end of the summer flight schedule.

The last four remaining Airbus A340-600s will leave the fleet in October, thus bringing the era of this aircraft type at Lufthansa to a definitive end, the official note from the company said, with "the final farewell to this aircraft type is planned for next year".

The kerosene consumption of the Lufthansa Group's passenger airlines is hedged at an above-average rate of around 80 percent based, among other things, on crude oil prices, the statement explained. "However, the remaining 20 percent must still be purchased at significantly increased market prices. This particularly expensive portion of fuel requirements will be reduced by around 10 percent," it also read.

Till Streichert, chief financial officer and CFO of Lufthansa Group, says: "The package for accelerated implementation of fleet and capacity measures is unavoidable in light of the sharply increased kerosene costs and geopolitical instability.

"The goal is to focus our short- and medium-haul platforms more clearly and make them more competitive.

"In this regard, we had already identified the prospective removal of CityLine from our program as part of our strategic development for some time, independently of the current geopolitical crisis. The current crisis is now forcing us to implement this measure earlier. This is a painful step, particularly with regard to the colleagues at Lufthansa CityLine. It is therefore all the more important now to find continued employment opportunities within the Group."

Lufthansa also said "ground staff have already received employment at the newly founded Lufthansa Aviation GmbH," and added "cockpit and cabin crew were already offered transfer options at the turn of 2024/2025, which provided for employment at Lufthansa City Airlines with multi-year comparable compensation conditions to Lufthansa CityLine".

According to this offer, any differences in working conditions were to be offset by a compensation payment.

CityLine was founded in 1963, just five years after Lufthansa.