*

Job cuts will be mainly in Germany

*

Pilots' union votes on strike action

*

Lufthansa holding first company-wide capital markets day

in six

years

*

Shares rise 2%

(Updates with Verdi union statement in paragraphs 10-14)

By Joanna Plucinska and Ilona Wissenbach

MUNICH/FRANKFURT, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Lufthansa

will cut 4,000 administrative jobs by 2030 and set

higher profitability targets, the German airline group said on

Monday, as it seeks to boost efficiency through digitalisation

and automation.

Shares in the company rose on the announcement, jumping 2%

in early trade. By 1156 GMT they were up 1.3% at 7.85 euros.

Lufthansa has struggled to cut costs and pursue growth as it

has dealt with labour challenges in recent years. It issued two

profit warnings last year and dropped a target of reaching an

operating margin of 8% that year.

"We definitely lag behind some of our competitors when it

comes to financial performance," Chief Executive Carsten Spohr

said at the company's capital markets day.

LUFTHANSA SEEKS TO REASSURE INVESTORS

The group said it had not abandoned the 8% target, though it

has now been pushed back to later in the decade as part of new

mid-term targets for 2028 and 2030.

Lufthansa is pursuing an ambitious group-wide turnaround

programme announced last year. The capital markets day, the

first company-wide one in six years, was designed to reassure

investors that the programme is going as planned.

In particular, Lufthansa is looking to revive its "problem

child" core airline as it struggles to clamp down on rising

costs that have raised concerns among analysts and investors.

Lufthansa now expects its adjusted operating margin to reach

8-10% from 2028, up from a previous goal of 8%, and adjusted

free cash flow of more than 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) a

year, it said at Monday's event.

Reuters reported last week that Lufthansa planned to cut

about 20% of its non-operational staff.

The reductions will be made mainly in Germany and in

consultation with social partners, the company said, where the

airline group has struggled most with moderating costs.

PILOTS' UNION VOTING ON STRIKE ACTION

Verdi, a union representing Lufthansa employees including

ground handling staff, criticised the job cuts, saying stricter

European environmental taxes and politicians' decision to

maintain higher taxes were piling on pressure to cut costs.

Lufthansa's pilots union will wrap up voting on Tuesday on

whether or not to strike over changes to pensions.

Company executives have threatened to move more jobs to

newer and cheaper subsidiaries within the group, such as City

Airlines and Discover.

Lufthansa has said repeatedly that cost management is far

easier at its other bases, such as Rome, where Lufthansa's

minority-owned Italian carrier ITA Airways is based.

The group plans to add more than 230 new aircraft by 2030

and deepen cooperation among its airlines to improve returns.

That integration means it can invest more heavily in newer,

more profitable subsidiaries and move resources away from

cost-heavy parts of the company if needed, executives told

Reuters.

($1 = 0.8527 euros)