Lufthansa is ready to bring back pre-COVID levels of flights to India this summer as it witnesses strong demand for the sector. In an interview, Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr revealed the airline’s India plans this summer, the kind of product passengers can expect, and the need for a stronger Air India for Lufthansa.

Busy summer

In an interview with The Economic Times (ET), Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr revealed that while the airline’s overall capacity will likely reach pre-pandemic levels by early 2025, its flights to India will have a faster recovery.

Spohr said that there is a strong demand for flights to India for both Lufthansa and Swiss, and the two airlines together will have 56 weekly flights to India this summer, making it the largest airline group between India and Europe.

Apart from operating a busy summer schedule, Lufthansa’s other India-centric plans include resuming services to Hyderabad and possibly connecting Bengaluru to more hubs besides Frankfurt.

Lufthansa is hoping to have a stronger presence in Asia this year, especially China and Japan, which, together with India, supply plenty of corporate passengers to the airline. While the airline has already started to increase operations in Japan, it will begin to pay more attention to China in the second half of the year.

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Could the A380 make a comeback in India?

The Airbus A380 has made a better-than-expected post-pandemic recovery, with Lufthansa being one of many carriers bringing the superjumbo back into operations. India was one of the destinations that hosted the airline's double-decker plane, and Spohr didn’t rule out the A380 coming back to India. ET quotes him as saying,

“Delhi is one of the markets we are looking into for potential use of the Airbus A380 as early as the coming winter. Crews and passengers alike love this aircraft, so let’s see if the A380 returns to India. In the past, the A380 and Indian customers were a perfect match.”

Regarding the product offering to India, Lufthansa could deploy its Boeing 787s with the new business class cabin and A350s with their new first class to the country once these are officially rolled out. At the moment, the airline is already flying its A350 -- currently its best product -- to Mumbai.

Partnership with Air India

With Air India slated to intensify its global reach in the coming years, how does Lufthansa view its projected rise? Spohr said that a stronger Air India is needed not just for global aviation and Star Alliance but for Lufthansa as well, particularly to challenge the dominance of the big Middle Eastern carriers. He commented,

“…we at Lufthansa Group are looking forward to being part of this development together with Air India. Such a strong partnership is essential as Gulf carriers – without even having significant-size home markets of their own – are currently living off the Indian market. I think India prefers a healthy Air India to healthy Gulf carriers, which is why Indian and European carriers should primarily serve air travel between India and Europe.”

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Lufthansa has had a strong presence in India for many decades. It’ll be interesting to see how its operations in the country and its relationship with Air India evolve over the next few years.

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Source: The Economic Times

• 

  Lufthansa

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  LH/DLH

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport

  Year Founded:

  1953

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  Airline Group:

  Lufthansa Group

  CEO:

  Carsten Spohr

  Country:

  Germany