Deutsche Lufthansa AG will shrink 95% of its capacity, landing 700 aircraft, as Europe’s largest airline continues to suffer a deepening crisis over the coronavirus pandemic.

“The coronavirus has put the entire global economy and our company in an unprecedented state of emergency”, said the CEO Carsten Spohr. “No one can foresee the consequences. We have to confront this exceptional situation with drastic and sometimes painful measures”, added he.

After the 700 planes landed, there are few flights left that will be used to carry the Germans left across the border, as well as to maintain supply chains, Carsten Spohr said in his speech regarding the Lufthansa 2020 financial outlook. Lufthansa is expected to request a loan from the German government, which may also buy a stake in the company as part of the bailout, Bloomberg announced on Friday (March 13th).

“The longer this crisis continues, the greater the likelihood that the future of aviation will not be guaranteed without state aid”, said Carsten Spohr.

Low-cost airlines Ryanair Holdings Plc in Europe to Qantas Airways in Australia, the Gulf Emirates and Delta Air Lines in the US, they land much of their aircraft and lay off employees, as the virus and measures to spread it have hit the industry hard. Governments are working on aid packages, and the aviation business will likely need 200 billion USD to survive the crisis, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Italian division Lufthansa Air Dolimiti has already halted flights, while the Austrian unit will cease operations later on Thursday. The Belgian unit will follow suit in two days, while the Swiss branch is already landing planes at a small airport near Zurich.

The reduction in Lufthansa’s capacity will eliminate 60% of the airline’s operating costs, such as fuel, airport charges and passenger costs, the company said. Carsten Spohr said the company aims to reduce fixed costs – those it has yet to accumulate – by one-third.

The company is already reducing discretionary costs and offering unpaid employee leave. Earlier this week, Moody’s downgraded the airline’s credit rating to junk, saying that Lufthansa needed “extraordinary liquidity measures”.

The group will not pay a dividend for 2019 to keep cash, which is currently estimated at 4.3 billion EUR (4.7 billion USD), plus credit lines of 800 million EUR. The carrier also said it would sell and lease some aircraft, with its fleet of nearly 800 aircraft estimated at around 10 billion EUR.