Launch of Lufthansa Italia, new connections plus 150 million euros investment in products and services
Lufthansa's summer timetable will offer new connections to Central & Eastern Europe for UK passengers as well as direct services between London and Milan and, despite the current difficult economic environment Lufthansa continues to focus on the development of attractive products and services.
The new timetable sees the seasonal reintroduction of a third daily service between Edinburgh and Frankfurt and also confirms the introduction of a seasonal service between Inverness, in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, and Düsseldorf, from 20 June to 12 September. In addition, the London to Berlin service will transfer to London Heathrow instead of London City Airport to allow the introduction of Airbus 319 aircraft, increasing capacity on the route by over 50 per cent. The summer timetable also includes the new offer of flights by Lufthansa Italia between London Heathrow and Milan Malpensa.
Lufthansa UK passengers will be able to take advantage of excellent connections to the airline's expanding route network in Central & Eastern Europe with the introduction of a number of new destinations - Rzeszów in south-eastern Poland (five times a week from 27 April), a new daily flight from Frankfurt to Poznan in the west of the country (in addition to the daily flights from Munich), subject to approval from the authorities, and a daily connection from Munich to Lviv in Ukraine. In addition, a new daily connection from Düsseldorf to Venice will be added to the schedule on 20 April. On weekends, Lufthansa will also operate direct connections to the two Adriatic cities of Split and Dubrovnik (Croatia) from Munich. Elsewhere in Europe, the connections to Madrid, Stavanger (Norway), Nizhny Novgorod and Perm (Russia) will also be operating with additional flights.
In the Middle East and Africa, Lufthansa will expand its flight offer to Tel Aviv and, subject to approval from the authorities, will reintroduce a four times a week connection to the most important Israeli metropolis from Munich. The Saudi Arabian cities of Jeddah and Riyadh will each be served by a daily non‑stop flight from Frankfurt and there will also be daily flights to Muscat, the capital of Oman, and Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. There will also be additional flights to the long‑haul destinations of Algiers (Algeria), Sana (Yemen), Dubai (U.A.E.) and Mumbai (India).
"The new and improved connections offered by the summer timetable show the importance of the UK market to Lufthansa even in the current economic climate", says Marianne Sammann, Lufthansa General Manager UK & Ireland. "Despite the suspension of our service between Bristol and Frankfurt, Lufthansa will still have a presence in the South West following the introduction of the new bilateral code sharing between Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines. So, the vast majority of our UK passengers will have more and even better connections to a wide range of destinations. At the same time, our portfolio is growing with the new Lufthansa Italia offer from Heathrow. Bookings for the new service are growing at a rate of well over 1000% since January, an excellent take up of our now increased offer of six daily flights from London to Milan.
"While we are not immune to the impact of the current financial problems, Lufthansa is still committed to meeting the wishes of our customers and continues to focus on the development of attractive products and services. We will continue to expand our role as Europe's most attractive airline. The crisis does not represent standstill at Lufthansa - on the contrary! Major investments in the development of new products and services will allow us to offer our customers true added value and greater comfort."
By 2013, Lufthansa will have invested about 150 million euros in the renovation and improvement of its lounges across the world. During the past twelve months alone, 17 new lounges throughout the world have been opened or reopened after renovations and improvements. There are also changes to the on-board product. As of late summer, two of the three Lufthansa Business Jets, which are operated for Lufthansa by PrivateAir, will additionally be equipped with Economy Class seats. They will be introduced on the Frankfurt-Bahrain and Frankfurt-Dammam routes in September with 32 seats in Business Class and 60 seats in Economy Class. The aircraft will be equipped with the latest generation of seats with integrated in-flight entertainment in both classes.
Lufthansa's summer schedule offers a total of 14,038 weekly flights providing UK passengers with connections to 206 destinations in 78 countries worldwide. The 2009 summer schedule is effective from Sunday, 29 March until Saturday, 24 October 2009.
The Lufthansa route map on www.lufthansa.com makes it easier for customers to plan their journeys. The interactive world map conveys a quick and simple overview of the available direct destinations from a specific departure airport, as well as the available options for connecting flights. The map has a convenient zoom and move function.