The Hindu Business Line : Lufthansa hopeful of 20% growth in Indian market

LUFTHANSA has set a growth target of 20 per cent for the Indian market over the next four years, according to Mr Thierry Antinori, Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, Lufthansa, India.

Speaking to this correspondent recently in Frankfurt, he said that while the US and Europe together accounted for 70 per cent of global air traffic as on date, the German carrier was looking at India and China as potential growth markets in the coming days.

The strategic alliance between Lufthansa and Air India, which came into effect on October 1, would cover marketing and sales besides a joint effort by the two airlines to improve airport services, he said. As per the understanding, customers will be able to redeem points on the frequent flyer programmes of both airlines, namely Miles and More on Lufthansa and Flying Returns on Air India.

Co-operation in sales could extend to providing special benefits to their corporate clients, Mr Antinori said.

"We are looking to see if greater co-operation on corporate sales is possible between the two airlines, including the possibility of aligning their IT systems. Such an interface will allow a passenger in Germany to obtain boarding passes to stations in India at Germany itself," he said.

At another level, the two airlines may also open their lounges to each other's passengers at airports.

Lufthansa was also willing to assist Air India in its ground handling operations, especially since the German carrier is keen to fly the 500-seater A380 to India, once it takes delivery of this aircraft in 2007. Indian airports did not have the requisite infrastructure to handle this aircraft currently and the German airline could assist Air India in this respect, he said.

Under the strategic alliance reached with Air India, the German carrier has announced that it will launch a thrice-weekly service between Frankfurt and Hyderabad from February next year, opening up its fifth gateway in the country. Lufthansa currently operates 29 flights a week from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

Under the terms of the agreement, the two airlines will codeshare on all flights between the two countries. The two airlines have also agreed that the AI code could be booked on Lufthansa connecting flights to certain destinations in Europe and the US.