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Lufthansa summer timetable 2002 with three new routes and 370 new flights "The year of 2002 will be the year of opportunities". With this optimistic look to the future, Thierry Antinori, Vice President Sales at Lufthansa Passage Airline, described the motto for 2002 at the ITB Press Conference. Initial signs of a revival are already evident. For, although Lufthansa Passage was forced to register a decline in passenger numbers in 2001 for the first time in 28 years and again in February when the total of 3.1 million passengers was 9.2 percent below the figure for the same period the previous year, the monthly decline in passengers is getting smaller. Initial indications suggest that in the coming months this positive trend will continue in the inter-continental sector and the numbers of passengers will continue to rise. "The results in the first two months of this year as well as the forecast for the coming months make us fell confident that we can win market share and that business will slowly increase once again", Antinori was happy to report. 45.7 million passengers flew with Lufthansa last year, that was 2.7 percent fewer than the previous year. Of the total, the Lufthansa Passenger Airline accounted for 39.7 million passengers (minus 3.8 percent). The capacity offered, which had increased by a total of 2.1 percent, contrasted with sales that were down by 1.9 percent. Correspondingly, the capacity utilization of the passenger aircraft declined (minus 2.9 percentage points), but still managed to reach the remarkable level of 71.5 percent. "Thanks to our thorough cost management, speedy responses and flexible adjustments to the market, our situation is relatively stable. However, stability at a low level must not be allowed to obscure the fact that the industry still finds itself in a difficult situation", stressed Antinori. In all sales regions, Lufthansa was able to maintain its leading position and even further extend it. The offered capacity was 4.4 percentage points above the average of the Association of European Airlines (AEA). In terms of sold capacity, Lufthansa also performed better than the AEA average. Although the demand was three percent below the previous year’s figure, the AEA airlines registered an even higher decline with five percent on average. "These indicators are proof for me that the course we have embarked on is the right one", commented Thierry Antinori. "Our objective is to remain the No. 1 among the European airlines through outstanding quality in all areas." Lufthansa is responding to the increase in demand in its summer timetable with the provision of 370 additional flights, in other words, 55,000 seats per week, and the initiation of three new services – from Munich to Boston, Shanghai and Tokyo. In total the seat capacity offered will be increased as of 1 April by around seven percent compared to the winter timetable, but will thus still be almost ten percent below the level of the 2001 summer timetable. In order to be able to offer the additional flights, ten of the 43 aircraft which were taken out of service last fall will be reactivated and two new Airbus A340-300s which were already ordered prior to 11 September, will go into operation. Five of the aircraft will fly in continental traffic and seven in intercontinental operations. In total, in its summer timetable, Lufthansa is offering flights to 327 destinations in 89 countries. "In the event of a continuing revival in the market, we will react flexibly and, if necessary, adjust the capacities at short notice", said Thierry Antinori, describing further procedure. Together with its partners in the Star Alliance, Lufthansa offers a route network of 727 destinations in 127 countries. In aiming to continue the company's successful progress, Thierry Antinori sets clear priorities in the development of Lufthansa's market share (among others, in the European markets), increasing utilization of capacity, reduction and optimization of costs as well as focusing on innovative technologies and the further development of the professional service quality in customer service. Despite the waning E-hype, the online sales operation is registering remarkable figures. With just under 400,000 bookings, the revenues via the InfoFlyway doubled last year and thus registered a considerably better result than the market average. In Corporate Flyway, the business portal for smaller and medium-sized companies, six months after the launch, over 500 companies are already registered. Opodo, the joint venture between Lufthansa and eight European airlines, was launched in Germany at the end of last year and with over 600,000 visitors a month, is one of the most-frequently visited travel portals in Europe. The Lufthansa online objectives in 2002 are to further improve the technical performance on the www.lufthansa.com website, to organize the booking of inner-German flights more conveniently and to simplify the price information. "The online results show that our customers increasingly appreciate the possibility of booking via the Internet. We are confident that we will develop better than the market this year, and via all online channels, will manage to double or even triple our revenues. This spectrum is the result of the degree of customer acceptance of online channels in general", was how Antinori described his plans. The call-center alliance will be extended through two further call centers in Europe and America. Thus, worldwide nine international service teams are now available to provide Lufthansa customers with assistance on all questions relating to flight bookings and flight information. A continuous increase in accessibility and improvement in the quality are the objectives in the coming year. "The direct route to the customer – whether via the internet or the Call Centers will continue to become increasingly important. With our multi-channel strategy, we are addressing the customers’ wishes, because where the customer searches for us, he/she should be able to find us", according to Antinori. The focal point in traditional sales is the examination of a new commission model for the travel agents in Germany, the further development of global key accounting with companies and agents as well as the development of the Partner Plus Benefit company promotion program. Antinori comments: "Our objective is, together with our sales partners, to realize savings possibilities and, at the same time, to improve the service for our customers." |
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