Lufthansa sees Gulf competition as real threat

Frankfurt: German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG views competition from state-backed Gulf airlines as a growing and serious threat to German and other European air carriers, Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said in an interview with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper published yesterday.

"The three national airlines from the Gulf region [Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways] are creating unbelievably huge capacity for aircraft and airports at enormous speed with pretty much inexhaustible financial means from oil sources," the interview quotes Mayrhuber as saying.

Earlier, Mayrhuber said that the German government's planned tax on passengers could endanger investment like a "lead weight."

Air tax

The air tax on passengers is expected to raise 1 billion euros (Dh4.7 billion) a year if implemented, a sum that is comparable to the combined operating results of all airlines in Germany in a very good year, Mayrhuber said Thursday in Berlin.

The Lufthansa CEO said he doesn't think the airline will be able to pass the tax off entirely to its passengers.

"I doubt we'll be able to pass it on to customers 1:1, we've never managed to do that," Mayrhuber said Thursday, adding that the competition is too intense in any case.