Lufthansa bucks market trend with more UAE-Frankfurt flights

Dubai: While airlines around the world are scrapping passenger seats in response to the economic crisis, Lufthansa German Airlines is going ahead with its plan to expand its capacity in the Gulf by adding more flights between the UAE and Frankfurt.

At a press conference in Dubai yesterday, Lufthansa officials announced it will operate six non-stop flights a week between Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt, starting from October 26. The airline will also introduce a second daily flight between Dubai and Frankfurt effective from November 1.

"It's really no secret that behind closed doors, a lot of airline managements have come together to analyse their market strategies in the wake of the financial crisis," said Joachim Steinbach, Lufthansa vice president for sales and services in Southeast Europe, Africa, Middle East and Pakistan. "So, adding capacity in general right now is against the trend of course. But this region is still going strong and we're confident that we can fill the capacity,"

"These additional flights are part of our continuous expansion plan to further intensify our network reach in the region. This market still has a lot of potential. There's a growing number of multinational companies that have settled here and the government institutions here belong to our strong customer base," Steinbach added.

Strong demand

Airlines around the world, particularly those operating in the US, have been taking a beating from the economic downturn. Passenger numbers have fallen, prompting other carriers to cut their flights to certain destinations.

Peter Pollak, Lufthansa general manager for passenger sales in the UAE, said passenger demand from the region is still high, as bookings for the next six months have increased by around eight to nine per cent compared to last year.

Lufthansa operates several flights daily, or a total of 27 flights a week to Germany from Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In the last few years, Lufthansa launched new destinations in the Gulf and Middle East, with the new route map covering Qatar and Bahrain.

With the opening of the new terminal at the Dubai International Airport, the German airline also announced it will expand and enhance its lounge facilities for first-class and business-class passengers.

The project is part of its 5 year, Dh750 million investment plan that seeks to give "excellent" facelifts to its various airport lounge facilities.