Lufthansa rings the changes with Germanwings shift

LUFTHANSA, the German airline, is to use its no-frills brand Germanwings to operate flights from Manchester beyond outside its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.

This will mean a change for Manchester passengers using the routes to Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart.

UK general manager Christian Schindler said: “Our strategy to focus on the two hub flights is aimed at allowing us to remain competitive and ahead of the changes in the market place.

“Germanwings operates a different pricing system and at lower cost base, it’s lower cost but higher quality.”

The shift to Germanwings as part of a group-wide  efficiency push to increase group operating profit to €2.3bn by 2015.

Germanwings first took over Lufthansa’s point-to-point services from Stuttgart, and the parent is now rolling over flights from Hamburg and Berlin, with Dusseldorf services set to follow in the middle of next year.

Mr Schindler said he was pleased with the performance of the Frankfurt and Munich routes, where passenger numbers rose 4.3% in 2013.

Total passenger numbers were around 745,000 – largely unchanged on 2012 – reflecting the end of the Berlin service last year and a number of operational changes.

He said 50% of passengers to Munich and Frankfurt were travelling onward within the global network, both to destinations in Europe such as Vienna in Austria, but further afield to China and South Africa.

Asked about the impact of Saudi Arabian carrier Saudia relaunching a direct Manchester-Jeddah flight  from February, Mr Schindler said he was “not really concerned” by the competition.

“The pilgrimage traffic we get is quite seasonal, and I think passengers will be loyal if we continue to deliver the right product at the right price.”

He said 2014 would see newer, larger aircraft being operated from Manchester, leading to an 11% increase in capacity.

Across all group businesses – including Germanwings, Austria and Brussels Airlines – Lufhansa operates 114 flights per week.

From a product perspective this year will see the launch of a new premium economy class in March, to be launched on long-haul services in November.

Mr Schindler said: “We think the gap has grown too big. There is a huge demand for an upgraded economy  but at a lower price than business class.”

While not having a separate cabin, premium economy passengers would receive a better service and enjoy a more comfortable seat.

He said business travellers would also see an enhancement to the airline’s reward programme, which is being rebranded from the Star Alliance Company Plus Programme to PartnerPlusBenefit.

Members of the scheme can earn loyalty points on all revenue booking classes across 10 airlines including Germanwings, Air Canada and United Airlines.