Frankfurt (dpa) - Lufthansa plans to increase the number of flights to and from its main German hubs of Frankfurt and Munich from currently 50 to 330 a week, according to a company announcement from its Frankfurt headquarters on Wednesday.
Flights operated by Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian and Brussels will remain grounded to the end of May, Europe's largest carrier said in extending the period for a further two weeks.
The new Lufthansa flight plan, which adds the destinations Athens, Porto in Portugal and Gothenburg in Sweden, is due to go into force on May 18. The number of domestic German flights taking off from Munich is to be doubled.
Lufthansa subsidiaries Swiss and Eurowings are also extending their emergency schedules for planes leaving Swiss and smaller German airports up to the end of May.
Long-haul flights are to continue to take off only from Swiss airports and Frankfurt.
Passengers are to be compelled to wear a mask covering the nose and mouth and to be requested to keep them on throughout the flight, with the new measure going into force on Monday.
Lufthansa said it planned to require the wearing of masks on all the airlines in the group at least until August 31.
The airline also said it was ending its current practice of keeping seats in the middle of a row of three vacant, as the wearing of a mask offered adequate protection to fellow passengers.
Passengers will continue, however, to be spaced out in the cabin, given the current low demand for seats.
It noted that all Lufthansa Group planes were fitted with effective filters providing an air quality equivalent to that in a hospital operating theatre.
As Lufthansa struggles, the Swiss government said on Wednesday it would provide state help to Swiss and Edelweiss, carriers both owned by Lufthansa, subject to parliamentary approval.
In a statement, the Swiss government said it estimated the liquidity needs of Swiss and Edelweiss at 1.5 billion Swiss francs (1.02 billion dollars) up to the end of 2020, and that this shortfall would be made up by a consortium of banks.
A holding in Swiss or Edelweiss is not envisaged, the government added, noting, "the loans will be secured by Swiss and Edelweiss shares."
Lufthansa is still in talks with the governments of Germany, Austria and Belgium for possible state aid.
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