The FINANCIAL — Lufthansa is to offer more than 200 new destinations and up to 37 flights a week. This new flight schedule is to last throughout the summer season. Together with night flights, day flights (Tbilisi – Munich) will also be conducted by the company from July 20 till August 28, 2008.
In 2007, the revenue of Lufthansa consisted of EUR 1,400 billion.
Deutsche Lufthansa is the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried (the second is Air France – KLM), and the flag carrier of Germany. The company was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin and has been represented on the Georgian market since 2005.
According to Rene Koinzack, Director of Marketing and Finance of CIS, Lufthansa originally started operation on the Georgian market with 3 flights. Lufthansa in Georgia is developing in parallel to the country’s economy.
“In 2007, the revenue of Lufthansa consisted of EUR 1,4 billion. Lufthansa is not content with this achievement, and plans to increase its profits in the future. Swift’s join with Lufthansa made a great contribution toward increasing the revenue. Swift is a sister company of Lufthansa. In total the company offers 14 thousand flights a week throughout the world,” Koinzack declared.
Overall 20 basic operators run flights in Georgia, out of which the three are national carriers: Airzena Georgian Airways, Georgian National Air and Tam Air.
The airline is the world’s fifth largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating services to 209 destinations in 81 countries. Together with its partners Lufthansa services over 410 destinations. It has the second largest passenger airline fleet in the world, when combined with Lufthansa CityLine, Air Dolomiti, Eurowings, Germanwings, Augsburg Airways, Contact Air, and SWISS, operating 529 aircrafts.
“The company’s strong position in the market is down to several factors: its quality, innovative products, and the well developed net of Lufthansa. This company offers first class service. Lufthansa has different class products: economy class, business class and first class. Innovations are not only offered to first and business class customers but to economy class customers as well. Soon online checking will be implemented in Georgia and this will help customers to travel more easily,” Koinzack said.
“I can recall several facts from the very day of Lufthansa’s launch. Lufthansa has been represented on the market for three years already. We first started operating with just three flights. Today it is obvious that Georgian customers like Lufthansa and increasing our flight number can be regarded a clear indicator of Georgian customers’ loyalty,” Stefan Schwarz, General Manger of Georgia, declared.
Lufthansa corporate headquarters is in Cologne, whereas its main base and primary traffic hub is at Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt am Main with a second hub at Munich International Airport.
“Daily flights will be offered to clients during the summer months as their volume increases during that period. Daily flights are mostly for business people. Flights to Munich are more in demand than Frankfurt. This is down to the fact that Georgians mostly fly to European countries and Munich is a transit point for other European destinations, while Frankfurt is mostly for intercontinental flights. We have more than 4,000 Miles & More frequent flyer members in Georgia,” Stefan Schwarz, General Manager of Georgia.
According to Rene Koinzack, Lufthansa passengers can choose their seat now when checking in on Lufthansa website.
The choice is made easy by a graphic seat plan on the screen showing all the available seats during the online check-in process. Passengers simply select their seat on their home PC or at the office, and then print out their boarding pass. Another advantage for even more flexibility: The online check-in option is now available 23 hours prior to flight departure, allowing passengers to make sure in good time of obtaining their preferred seat in the aircraft cabin. It all makes check-in on the net that much more comfortable.
Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance. Star Alliance was formed in 1997 together with Thai Airways, United Airlines, Air Canada and Scandinavian Airlines System. Star Alliance now has 20 member airlines and 3 regional members. The Lufthansa Group operates more than 400 aircrafts and employs nearly 100,000 people worldwide. In 2007, 83.1 million passengers flew with Lufthansa including all subsidiaries.
“Miles & More is the frequent flyer program of 12 European airlines. It was launched by Lufthansa (LH) in 1993. The program enables its 13 million members to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles on all of the fully integrated airlines as well as all the Star Alliance members. Furthermore, all customers are able to build status, which gives them access to certain privileges. Miles & More is free of charge and anybody can sign up,” Koinzack said.
“Lufthansa is the only company which has launched a Lufthansa First Class Lounge at Munich Airport. First Class customers and HON Circle members will be able to enjoy the exclusive atmosphere there. As with Frankfurt, the First Class Lounge at Munich has a range of comfortable facilities and conveniences on offer. These include a gourmet restaurant, bar area, cigar lounge and luxury bathroom areas. Lufthansa Private Jet is an exclusive top-end service for the individual and flexible air traveller,” Koinzack added.
According to Lufthansa’s global site, the company is owned by private investors (88.52%), MGL Gesellschaft für Luftverkehrswerte (10.05%), Deutsche Postbank (1.03%) and Deutsche Bank (0.4%) and has 37,042 employees (as of March 2007).
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