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It's not about judging LH or any other airline for doing this, I fully understand. I'm asking because I want to be sure not to have a bad opinion of E.U legislation before I have the facts.

If you work for Lufthansa or another major European carrier, are you doing empty flights currently to keep slots?

Public news is inconclusive: https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/handel-konsumgueter/luftfahrt-18-000-fluege-ohne-passagiere-das-steckt-hinter-dem-streit-um-die-leerfluege-der-lufthansa/27967268.html?ticket=ST-2091922-HdBZLvRVYbKhhg9DeFTU-ap1

Are the flights happening or is this just a warning?

DeltaLima
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TMOTTM
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    related, if not duplicate https://aviation.stackexchange.com/q/76743/1467 – Federico Jan 16 '22 at 12:23
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    "I'm asking because I want to be sure not to have a bad opinion of E.U legislation before I have the facts.". You might want to tell which regulation you're talking about. This one, EEC 95/93, clearly states airports (or States) are responsible for slot allocation, even if recommendations for harmonization are provided: A Member State shall be under no obligation to designate any airport as schedules facilitated or coordinated save in accordance with the provisions of this Article. – mins Jan 17 '22 at 12:49

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Carsten Spohr (CEO of Lufthansa) said in an interview with FAZ last December:

But we have to make 18,000 extra, unnecessary flights over the winter just to secure our take-off and landing rights.

(faz.net, translated from German)

Two days ago, a Lufthansa spokesman told the dpa (German Press Agency):

A part has already been completed, now there are still 11,000 flights that Lufthansa would like to avoid, as a spokesman told dpa. Currently, around 100 commercially unnecessary, almost empty flights are operated in the group every day [...]

(merkur.de, translated from German)

This implies that about 7,000 of these flights have already happened. However, "almost empty" does not mean completely empty. You can buy tickets for these flights, but not enough tickets are sold to make these flights economically viable. The EU commission said:

We have no indication that Lufthansa is operating empty legs to secure slots.

(merkur.de, translated from German)

Bianfable
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    I suppose they'll also take some mail/cargo; the amount of that didn't decline much. – Jan Hudec Jan 16 '22 at 13:15
  • I read now the merkur.de references.. it sounds as if its "word against word"? – TMOTTM Jan 16 '22 at 17:42
  • Cargo should be even more. – Peter Jan 16 '22 at 20:42
  • My understanding is, that LH flies mostly as regularly planned but the planes are not full. Good for passengers which have more options, bad for earnings and sustainability. I’ve seen multiple times full planes and planes with a lot free seats. The slots rules seem to enforce - as a side effect - a basic service requirement similar to the US? But not intentional? – Peter Jan 16 '22 at 20:47