Carrier eyeing African and Asian markets
Lufthansa is looking to expand once the current global economic crisis is over, Thierry Antinori, its executive vp sales and marketing, said today (March 13).
He said "actively developing" the African market an important task for the airline. It had already launched new flights to Luanda and Malabo and more would be offered "due to the planned incorporation with Brussels Airlines."
It was also co-operating with Star Alliance partners like EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways.
Mr Antinori, speaking at a press conferenced at ITB Berlin, said Lufthansa was also "well placed" to expand in other growth markets including Asia.
He said no other carrier flew to seven destinations in India, six in China and two in South Korea.
The German national carrier is also introducing three new destinations for its new airline Lufthansa Italia, which is based at Milan-Malpensa. These are Rome, Naples and Bari.
The new airline, launched earlier this month, flies fom Milan to Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Madrid and will add London and Lisbon at the end of March.
Two new aircraft, A319s will be added to the Lufthansa Italia fleet to cope with the expansion, Mr Antinori said.
He also revealed that Lufthansa is stepping up its co-operation with Brussels Airlines.
This is despite the EC currently conducting an "in-depth" investigation into the plan for the German carrier to buy a 45% stake in the Belgian airline.
The EC says it is concerned about possible anti-competitiveness aspects of the possible deal.
Mr Antinori said that Lufthansa would increase its code-sharing with Brussels this summer and fares between the two carriers would also"soon be able to be combined."
He said that Lufthansa, which announced a €1.35bn operating profit for 2008 this week, said the airline industry would cope with the current crisis because "we have more experience of crises than other industries."
During the current downturn, he said the focus must be on customers. "We fly for them, we invest for them and we work for them," he said.
But he said that the way for Lufthansa to be successful was to go on growing.
"We shall be successful in acquiring a larger piece of a smaller cake and growing all the more dynamically after the crisis," he said.
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