Lufthansa yesterday put an end to a potentially crippling strike by ground and engineering staff by increasing a pay offer that will set the salaries of more than a third of its workers until early 2010.
The German airline’s willingness to reach a deal had grown as lack of even simple maintenance grounded an increasing number of aircraft – the number of cancelled flights rose from 70 on Tuesday to 130 yesterday.
source: FT.com
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it had to cancel more than 500 flights on Wednesday, affecting thousands of passengers across Europe, as a result of a strike by pilots at two subsidiaries.
Lufthansa already had canceled more than 400 flights on Tuesday after pilot union Cockpit called members at the Eurowings and CityLine subsidiaries out on a 36-hour strike in a pay dispute.
source: IHT.com
A union represending thousands of ground and cabin staff at Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Friday that members will vote next week on a possible strike, which could start at the end of this month ” in Germany’s busy summer vacation period.
source: iht.com
Deutsch Lufthansa launched its maiden Pune-Frankfurt, all-business class, flight today with a Airbus 319 carrier, reconfigured to provide a seating arrangement of 48 seats. Announcing the launch of this 6-days-a-week flight, Lufthansa south east Asia director, Werner Heesen, said the company plans to attract only “‘corporate'” fliers through this flight.
source: Domain-b
German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Wednesday it has raised passenger fuel surcharges on European and long-haul routes to combat its rising costs for oil.
The company said in a statement the fuel surcharge on domestic German and intra-European routes will increase by €3 to €24 per flight segment. On long-haul routes the corresponding fuel surcharge will be raised by €10 to €92 per flight segment.
The Cologne-based airline said the increases will apply to all Lufthansa tickets issued on or after June 16.
source: iht.com
As of May 1, passengers can fly direct between Toronto and Dusseldorf, Germany. Lufthansa, one of the world’s largest air carriers, is offering service to Dusseldorf six times a week, allowing passengers the convenience of 35-minute connections to more than 50 popular European destinations including Barcelona, Budapest, Moscow, Munich, Paris and many others.
source: Aviation.ca
European Union competition regulators yesterday began a fresh probe into suspected antitrust abuses in the airline sector, raiding offices of several carriers providing flights to Japan.
The Commission said there was reason to believe that airlines might have violated EU rules on restrictive business practices.
Germany’s Lufthansa quickly confirmed that it was among the companies visited, and said the Commission appeared to be looking into possible price-fixing and collusive behaviour over flights between the EU and Japan, and involving aviation companies in Europe and in Japan.
source: FT.com
Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-biggest airline, will expand seating capacity 7.4 percent this summer as it adds destinations in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
Lufthansa will offer 5.8 percent more seating on European routes and 8.2 percent more on intercontinental flights, Thierry Antinori, the airline’s sales chief, said at a Berlin press conference today. The move takes effect with the summer schedule, which runs from March 30 to Oct. 25.
source: Bloomberg.com
Germany’s leisure airline sector could be set for a major consolidation with Germanwings, Eurowings and TUIfly discussing a merger. If completed, the deal would create a group with a combined fleet of more than 100 aircraft and a network of about 185 destinations.
TUI Travel confirms it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lufthansa and Eurowings majority shareholder Albrecht Knauf concerning the merger, but little else has been revealed.
The airlines will be brought together under a joint independent holding company in the proposed deal, but the companies stress that the process is at an “‘early stage'” and there is “‘no guarantee'” it will lead to an integrated airline group.
fuente: flightglobal.com
German travel and transport group TUI and airline Lufthansa are working on creating a new low-cost carrier, the TUI Travel subsidiary said on Tuesday.
The partners have signed a letter of intent for a merger of TUI Travel, Hapag-Lloyd and Hapag-Lloyd Express with Lufthansa units Germanwings and Eurowings, a statement said.
source: AFP
