Lufthansa’s controversial €16 GDS transaction fee has had a “detrimental” affect on the airline’s business travel sales, according to research published by the GTMC.
The GTMC made the claims after sampling around 12,000 transactions from members and compared the market share won by the Lufthansa Group for flights between the UK and Germany for the three months pre DCC charge and the three months after the fee was introduced.
The organisation claims its data shows a reduction in the amount of business travel market share held by Lufthansa, and suggests that TMCs have switched business away from the airline group to avoid passing the charge to their customers.
GTMC CEO Paul Wait said the research shows that businesses have “voted with their feet”.
The DCC charge was introduced in September with the study showing that between June and November Lufthansa’s market share dipped 8.5 per cent. In June the German airline’s share was 32.9 per cent compared to 24.4 per cent in November
It also showed that when compared to rival airlines operating between UK and Germany, the other carriers either matched or increased their market share.
GTMC CEO Paul Wait said: “We predicted that the Lufthansa charge would upset and put business travel bookers off.
“They haven’t booked directly with Lufthansa as they hoped, instead, they have voted with their feet and taken their business elsewhere.
“In this highly competitive market, we believe, this charge has done some obvious damage to Lufthansa’s market share. It is a flawed and failed strategy which should be reviewed.”
In January, BBT reported that Lufthansa carried a record 107.7 million passengers last year as well as its highest ever seat load factor
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