Lufthansa sees strong passenger growth

LUFTHANSA , the German airline, has seen a 7% pick up in passenger numbers so far this year.

The carrier has recently reorganised its operations, shifting some Manchester routes to Dusseldorf and Stuttgart to its low-cost brand Germanwings. It now includes passenger traffic on routes to its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich and those served by group airlines SWISS to Zurich and Brussels Airlines in its numbers.

To date passenger volumes for the four routes are up 7% to just under 800,000, which UK general manager Christian Schindler describes as “fantastic news”.

Jointly, Lufthansa, SWISS and Brussels, operate 81 flights a week, offering business, student and leisure passengers flexibility and choice, Mr Schindler said.

“Manchester is a really important location for us, the growth is really strong, both to Europe and via our network to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai and to Johannesburg. We are pleased and look forward to more of the same.

“We have been particularly encouraged by the early response to our new premium economy product on our long haul routes. Customers get 50% more room but not at a 50% higher price than economy. We initially targeted December 10 for launch of premium economy on the first wave of retro-fitted aircraft but we were three weeks ahead of this and the aircraft are now in service.”

He said the chemical, financial and in particularly the automotive sectors were driving corporate demand from the North West and also the West Midlands.

“It’s not just about Bentley and Jaguar Land Rover and BMW, but also about their suppliers in Europe. Automotive is an important contributor.”

Mr Shindler said talks were continuing between Lufthansa management and pilots and unions to end the long-running dispute between the parties, which has caused disruption to passengers when strike action has been taken.

“It is vital we find a solution to this situation, the airline is very clear that it has to be competitive.”