This was translated by google from a german website, so it might be a lousy english

the original text can be found at:ard.boerse (http://boerse.ard.de/content.jsp?key=dokument_86083)


Lufthansa meets Swiss
Fusion discussions on the Huett'n? Only recently the two bosses of Swiss and Lufthansa are to have actually conferred in a ski hut. Today prominent managers meet allegedly in Zurich.
Schaffen es Swiss und Lufthansa im zweiten Anlauf?

Do Swiss and Lufthansa in the second approach create it?


According to circles a fusion of German Lufthansa with Swiss Swiss initiates itself again. The negotiations are to already be in a advanced stage. After information of the financial press agency dpa AFX still on this Friday some managers will travel to discussions to Zurich. "there are prominent gentlemen in the company, whom today toward Zurich fly, after there was recently already a meeting with Mayrhuber and Franz on a ski hut", it was said.
After the Plauderei of the Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber with its Swiss colleague Christoph Franz the negotiations are to now zuspitzen themselves. It probably runs out on a co-operation "in the second or third quarter", continued to be called it in the circles.

Does Swiss open the door again?
"Financial Times Germany" and "trade paper" had reported before agreeing of the second attempt of Lufthansa to take over the fastened Swiss. Also shareholders of the Swiss would have confirmed that negotiations would have brought an approximation in Switzerland.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman did not confirm the reports: "no comment on speculations in the media. "unchanged applies, the Swiss with the last mark the door closed and Lufthansa it did not lock.

First approach 2003 failed
The German airline had submitted the Swiss already once to 2003 an assumption offer, with Swiss however in last minute had meet with a rebuff.

The Swiss oriented itself then for alliance "Oneworld" led by British Airways, which with the "star competes Alliance" of Lufthansa. A half year later however also these discussions failed. Since that time in the media more frequently upon a renewed approach to a GermanSwiss fusion one speculates.

Swiss reorganization runs
As a condition for a unification of the two airlines are considered the measures of reorganization introduced of Swiss, which are to lead at the latest 2006 again to a profit. Thus Swiss develops in the direction required by Lufthansa before two years.

Would Lufthansa retain Swiss as a seperate company (just like Air France - KLM), or would Swiss just disappear into LH?

Lufthansa said it would swiss retain as a brand - so you will be able to fly swiss in the future

its like AF -KLM, but a diffrent business-model

FOCUS: Lufthansa Says Would Retain Zurich In Swiss Deal
By Goran Mijuk
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
14 March 2005

ZURICH (Dow Jones)--Deutsche Lufthansa's (LHA.XE) pledge to maintain Zurich airport as an international hub may help convince Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.'s (SWIN.EB) major shareholders and politicians to accept a potential CHF500 million takeover bid from the German competitor as early as this spring.

A majority of Swiss politicians Monday said they would support a takeover deal for the struggling carrier should Lufthansa guarantee that the airport in Zurich-Kloten will continue to offer direct international flights to other major economic centers such as New York and Shanghai.

This would enable Swiss businessmen direct access to other centers and reduce the risk of sharp job cuts at the airport as well as support the country's important tourism industry, politicians said.

Swiss International's major shareholders, including the Swiss government with a 20.4% stake, UBS AG (UBS) with 10.4% and Credit Suisse Group (CSR) 10%, said they need to discuss details of the takeover plan first before reaching a decision.

However, they are understood to be supportive of a deal since they have said in the past they will listen to any workable solution, including a takeover.

Investment in the Swiss carrier has been an expensive disaster. Politicians pressured the country's major businesses to pump in cash after former flag carrier Swissair collapsed in 2002, causing widespread shock and disbelief in the country.

The government and business put more than CHF4 billion into the airline industry. UBS and Credit Suisse have already written down their CHF300 million investment. The new airline has racked up aggregate losses of CHF2 billion.

The major shareholders in Swiss International Air Lines, which represent 86% of the carrier's outstanding stock are all prohibited from selling their holdings because of a lockup agreement. They're meeting Monday to discuss Lufthansa's proposal, which was published late Sunday.

"It is important that Zurich airport remains an international hub", said Fulvio Pelli, head of Switzerland's business-friendly radical party FDP, adding that more details of the deal need to be made public before a political decision can be made.

Politicians from other parties as well as worker unions echoed Pelli's stance and added some of their own demands.

They say Lufthansa needs to guarantee not to reduce jobs and help smooth the airport's complicated landing regime which puts a crippling cap on the number of flights to and from Zurich.

"Lufthansa needs to guarantee that the Zurich airport can operate 20 long-distance destinations for the next five years", said Daniel Vischer, president of Swiss general services union VPOD.

"Swiss mustn't become a regional spin-off of Lufthansa. The hub concept needs to be maintained", said Christoph Ulrich, head of Swiss International's pilots union Aeropers.

Zurich airport officials declined to comment directly on the ongoing merger talks.

The German airline, which Sunday said it has resumed takeover talks with Swiss International to integrate the carrier into its network while keeping the Swiss brand and continue to use Zurich airport's traffic infrastructure, declined to specify details of potential price and timing and whether it would provide any guarantees.

Analysts expect Lufthansa to pay the free-float shareholders, representing around 14% of the carrier's outstanding stock, around CHF10.2 a share this spring, which would indicate a total takeover value of CHF535.3 million.

Their estimates are based on Lufthansa's comments that it will make an offer based on the average share price of recent weeks.

It is still unclear, though, if Swiss International Air Line's core shareholders will receive a similar cash offer or if they will swap their assets with Lufthansa shares or another form of compensation.

"We expect that the takeover will take place, though union opposition still poses a threat", said Patrik Schwendimann, analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank.

Though unions may strongly oppose the merger which could include more job cuts, they will continue their discussions with the management of Swiss International because the carrier will remain a separate legal entity.

"We don't know about the details of the merger plans, so we can't say yes or no. But we will fight for our pilots to keep their jobs. Anyway, we first need to address the ongoing restructuring of Swiss", said Christoph Frick, head of the Swiss pilots' union, that represents around 380 short-haul pilots.

Amid the current restructuring of Swiss International the company plans to reduce its workforce by around 800 and cut the number of short-haul flights.

The plan is part of the company's effort to become profitable after three years of consecutive losses.

It is not clear yet if more cuts to the Swiss carrier's fleet and staff will result in the wake of a potential takeover.

Should the parties involved agree on a takeover, a deal is also very likely to receive the green light from European Union officials. Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot Monday signaled he agrees in principle with the planned takeover.

Shares of Swiss International, which rose 19% on Friday after the takeover speculation arose, added another 7.2%, or CHF0.75, to CHF11.15 in late trading in Zurich Monday, translating into a market value of CHF585.2 million.

13.03.05
Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Swiss International Air Lines AG are in constructive negotiations about the take-over and integration of SWISS into the Lufthansa group. Both companies jointly developed the business model, which is subject to the approval of the Lufthansa supervisory board, the relevant SWISS-corporate bodies as well as the SWISS core shareholders. If the required approvals are obtained, Lufthansa will submit an offer to the free float shareholders based on the average share price of the recent weeks.

The jointly developed business model aims at providing a concentration of the strengths of both airlines, while retaining the independence of SWISS to the extent possible. The cornerstones include, inter alia, maintaining the air traffic infrastructure within Switzerland as well as the brand “Swiss”.

Both companies will inform about the progress of the negotiations in due time.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG
Corporate Communications


This press release can be found at the lufthansa website and at the swiss homepage

Lufthansa close to takeover
BEIJING, Mar. 15 -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe's second-biggest airline, said it is close to a takeover of unprofitable Swiss International Air Lines Ltd in a transaction that would eliminate another of the region's national carriers.

The companies developed a business model that needs to be approved by the carriers' supervisory boards and Swiss's major shareholders, the airlines said in statements on Sunday. Once approved, Cologne, Germany-based Lufthansa said it will submit an offer based on the average share price in recent weeks to minority shareholders, who own about 14 per cent of Swiss.

Europe's national carriers are under pressure amid increased competition from low-cost airlines. Air France took over KLM Royal Dutch Airlines NV last year, creating Europe's largest carrier. Belgium's Sabena went bankrupt in 2001. Lufthansa and Swiss, whose predecessor Swissair Group was the region's seventh-biggest carrier before its 2001 collapse, last held merger talks in 2003.

"There are long-term benefits for Lufthansa," said Frank Skodzik, an analyst with WestLB in Dusseldorf, Germany, who has an "outperform" rating on Lufthansa shares. "Swiss has a very good brand name and attractive premium traffic, and Lufthansa can use Swiss to bring passengers to its Munich and Frankfurt hubs."

Swiss has posted almost 1.81 billion Swiss francs (US$1.57 billion) in losses since its 2002 creation. Lufthansa reported a 400 million-euro (US$538 million) profit last year after a record loss of 984 million euros (US$1.3 billion) in 2003.

Shares of Swiss rose 20 per cent on March 11 after the German Handelsblatt newspaper said the two companies had agreed to the basics of a takeover plan. At Friday's close, the offer to the minority shareholders would be worth 76.7 million francs (US$66.3 million).

The shares rose 1.70 francs to 10.4 francs (US$8.9) on March 11, giving the company a market value of 548 million francs (US$473 million). The average price for Swiss since October is 8.95 francs (US$7.7), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Swiss had sales of 3.52 billion francs (US$3.04 billion) last year. Lufthansa had sales of 11.7 billion euros (US$15.6 billion) in 2003, or more than four times Swiss's annual revenue.

Paris-based Air France has been cutting costs to compete with Lufthansa and British Airways Plc, Europe's No 3 carrier, since taking over KLM last year. All the major airlines are facing price competition from low-cost carriers such as Dublin-based Ryanair Holdings Plc and Luton, England-based EasyJet Plc on European routes.

(Source: China Daily/Susanna Ray)

EU Commission to study competitive effects of Lufthansa/Swiss deal - Lowe
15 March 2005

BRUSSELS (AFX) - EU director general of competition Philip Lowe said the proposed merger between Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Swiss International Air Lines AG would be vetted to ensure the deal complies with European competition rules.

'We have a fair amount of experience of dealing with cases in this sector. We look at competition on routes and network effects,' he said.

The investigation, which will be carried out once the companies notify the commission of the deal, will look at whether Lufthansa or Swiss would be able to distort competition through their combined activities.

He added that he expected the commission to deal with more and more reviews of airline mergers as consolidation of the European airline sector gets underway.

Quiet a shame what is happening, although it's Swiss' own fault.
After the collapse of Swissair in late 2001, the state and a lot of multinational Swiss companies provided around US$2bn in liquidity for the new airline. It was at that time enough cash to BUY Lufhansa.
However, Switzerland decided to try it on their own - with this bitter result.
Although it makes economical sense, Lufthansa buys Swiss now for pocket change. :no:

Major 'Swiss' shareholders not opposed to Lufthansa takeover - report
16 March 2005

ZURICH (AFX) - The Swiss government, UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group, who together own around 41 pct in Swiss International Air Lines AG, have no objections to a takeover by Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger reported citing its own research.

Other major shareholders, which include various Swiss cantons and companies should also be happy to be rid of their shares, which have already been written down to zero on their books, the paper said.

Major shareholders held a meeting on Monday night with 'Swiss' management to discuss a possible takeover by the German airline, but all have since declined to comment, the paper said.

The board of 'Swiss' is also expected to rubber stamp the deal, and the government is due to discuss it next Wednesday at its regular meeting, the paper said.

Lufthansa's board is due to discuss the takeover on Tuesday.

The Swiss government, cantons, companies and industrialists hold around 86 pct of shares in 'Swiss' after taking part in a public-private bailout following the collapse of the former Swissair in 2001.

Fourteen pct of shares are in free float. These are expected to receive a different offer to those that took part in the bailout.

Swiss tabloid Blick reported yesterday that Lufthansa was looking into reviving the Swissair brand.

Swiss govt confirms ready to sell 'Swiss' stake to Lufthansa

FRANKFURT (AFX) - The Swiss government is ready to sell its 20.4 pct stake in Swiss International Air Lines AG to Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Handelsblatt reported, citing a finance ministry spokesman.

The government intends to withdraw from 'Swiss', the spokesman told the
newspaper. He added that the governing federal council had yet to agree to this move, but that this is only a formality.

Swiss's core shareholders, who together hold around 86 pct of the financially troubled airline's equity, are understood to be willing to sell their stakes to Lufthansa for a symbolic price in order to end their exposure, the newspaper added.

As i read in a other forum, Lufthansa will also buy the rights of the brand "swissair"

:eat: :pet:

Swiss await airline sale decision
By HAIG SIMONIAN
19 March 2005
Financial Times

The Swiss government yesterday said it would decide next Tuesday on whether to back the sale of Swiss International Air Lines to Lufthansa.

The announcement of the timing, to coincide with meetings the same day of the Swiss airline's board of directors and Lufthansa's supervisory board, came as resistance in Switzerland to the transaction increased sharply.

Politicians have attacked Hans-Rudolf Merz, Switzerland's finance minister and an advocate of the deal, for not ensuring adequate guarantees for Switzerland before indicating his support.

Media reactions have also turned sour after initial indifference or resignation, with commentators demanding that Switzerland should not sell Swiss short.

Blick, the daily newspaper, described the deal as "surrender". The paper, known for its populist campaigns, also argued that, in a country ruled by referendums, the sale of Swiss should be put to popular vote.

Mr Merz met the leaders of Switzerland's main political parties yesterday to brief them on the state of talks. However, he has rejected growing political calls for a full parliamentary debate, arguing a sale decision was the remit of the federal government, which owns 20 per cent of the airline.

Concerns in Switzerland have focused on the need to maintain a national flag carrier, and doubts about the sustainability of Lufthansa's commitment to retain Swiss as a separate brand.

Attention has also focused on the German group's loose commitment to maintain Zurich as a hub for transfer passengers, and to ensure Swiss maintains a regional and intercontinental route network.

Such issues have emerged as sensitive in Zurich, where the cantonal administration owns more than 10 per cent of Swiss's shares. Local politicians have expressed concerns about potentially high job losses.

Swiss and Lufthansa have declined to comment beyond an admission they were in "constructive" talks.

Swiss MPs back airline sale
21 March 2005
The Guardian

Switzerland appears resigned to the sale of national airline Swiss to German rival Lufthansa , opinion polls showed yesterday, two days before the Swiss government announces its verdict on a takeover.

Surveys showed a majority of Swiss parliamentari ans and members of the public were in favour of selling unprofitable Swiss International Air Lines to its larger German rival rather than bailing the carrier out with more money.

The government - the largest shareholder in the three-year-old airline - is expected to decide on Lufthansa's offer tomorrow, setting the lead for other shareholders and potentially marking the end of Switzerland's battle to keep the Swiss flag flying on a national carrier.

Switzerland resigned to sale of airline Swiss
By Tom Armitage

ZURICH, March 20 (Reuters) - Switzerland appears resigned to the sale of national airline Swiss to German rival Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), opinion polls showed on Sunday, two days before the Swiss government announces its verdict on a takeover.

Surveys showed a majority of Swiss parliamentarians and members of the public were in favour of selling unprofitable Swiss International Air Lines to its larger German neighbour rather than bailing the carrier out with new cash injections.

The government - the largest shareholder in the three-year old airline - is expected to decide on Lufthansa's takeover offer on Tuesday, setting the lead for other shareholders and potentially marking the end of Switzerland's battle to keep the Swiss flag flying on a national carrier.

A survey in the SonntagsBlick showed that 53 percent of those polled were in favour of the sale of Swiss to Lufthansa while 75 percent said the state should not put more money into the airline, which it helped bring to life in 2002.

A SonntagsZeitung poll showed that 56 of 81 parliamentarians were in favour of the takeover, while only three would allow more public money to be spent on supporting the company.

Swiss board member Walter Bosch told the SonntagsZeitung that when weighing up their options, the cabinet would likely decide to go with the Lufthansa offer.

"In the real world, the Lufthansa deal is the right solution," he was quoted as saying. "Everything else is dreams."

Along with cash from various Swiss companies, the government pumped some 600 million Swiss francs ($516 million) into Swiss when it was formed in early 2002 from the remnants of failed predecessor Swissair and regional carrier Crossair.

According to sources close to negotiations, Lufthansa is offering around 50 million euros to buy out small shareholders while larger shareholders - mainly Swiss companies which chipped in to get Swiss airborne - would receive a symbolic sum.

Big shareholders include large banks UBS and Credit Suisse as well as drugmakers Novartis and Roche and food giant Nestle.

A spokesman for Swiss on Sunday declined to comment on newspaper reports that the major shareholders would be given a cash bonus tied to the success of a deal.

If Lufthansa shares outperform the sector over the next three years, Swiss's current major shareholders would receive a cash bonus capped at the current market value of Swiss of around 500 million francs, the NZZ am Sonntag said.

Newspapers also reported that Lufthansa would invest in two new long-haul jets for Swiss, creating jobs at the airline's hub in Zurich.

Lufthansa to Buy Swiss International for Up To $395.1M
By Goran Mijuk and George Frey
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
22 March 2005

ZURICH -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG Tuesday agreed to take over Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. in stages over the next few years for up to 300 million euros ($395.1 million).

The agreement, which was expected for several days, seals the first major European airline deal since Air France acquired KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in 2003. The deal is likely to help turn around unprofitable Swiss International and will allow Lufthansa to tap into the Swiss carrier's much-vied for business and first-class customer base.

"The most important aspect of the integration is that it will produce clear benefits for our customers," said Lufthansa Chief Executive and Chairman Wolfgang Mayrhuber. Also Tuesday, the CEO extended his management contract for another five years to Dec. 31, 2010.

Lufthansa and Swiss International said they expect the tie-up will lead to annual cost savings of around 160 million euros from 2007 onwards and help both companies improve their regional and international network.

As part of the agreement, Swiss International will retain its corporate headquarters in Switzerland and maintain its brand. The Swiss airline will become a separate Lufthansa unit and will be allowed to elect one member to Lufthansa's board, safeguarding Swiss traffic interests in Germany.

Analysts welcomed the size of the transaction, though it fell short of some expectations for a takeover price of around 400 million euros.

"Lufthansa didn't make any gifts and is paying the minimum price for Swiss International Air Lines," said Patrik Schwendimann, an analyst with Zuercher Kantonalbank in Zurich.

Klaus Linde of SES Research in Hamburg said that although Lufthansa will still have to pay for Swiss' ongoing restructuring, the deal is good for the German carrier. Lufthansa will be able to increase its client base in Switzerland, France and Italy, he said.

Around 80% of Swiss International's shareholders have already accepted the takeover of Lufthansa, which will be executed in stages.

Shares of Swiss International will be initially transferred into a Swiss company called AirTrust. Lufthansa will then buy 11% of AirTrust. Once antitrust regulation authorities give the green light, Lufthansa will raise its stake to 49% in AirTrust. Later, the stake should be increased to 100%.

Swiss International said Lufthansa will in May offer the company's free-float shareholders a takeover deal worth around 45 million euros. The free-float shareholders represent around 15% of Swiss International's outstanding stock.

Swiss International's other major shareholders, which include the Swiss government and Swiss companies such as UBS AG (UBS) and Credit Suisse Group (CSR), will be compensated in 2008. The payout will depend on the performance of Lufthansa's shares and could reach a maximum of 250 million euros, the company said.

ANALYSIS-Swiss seen lucky to swap independence for survival
By Jason Neely, European Aerospace & Airlines Correspondent

LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - Swiss International Air Lines swaps independence for survival in a merger announced on Tuesday with Germany's Lufthansa that leaves several other European loss-making carriers still hunting for lifelines.

Analysts say state-invested airlines across Europe have proved a tough sell, despite hopes sparked by Air France's takeover of Dutch KLM last year to form the world's biggest airline company by revenues.

The Swiss deal - worth up to 310 million euros ($409 million - is the largest transaction since, as analysts say most carriers have done too little to lower costs to attract investors.

"The Swiss had to move if they were going to get in on the action," said analyst Nick van den Brul at Exane BNP Paribas.

Van den Brul said Lufthansa would boost its network by about 20 percent with Swiss, allowing it to move closer to the scale of Air France-KLM in lucrative long-haul flights.

For Swiss, it has joined forces with one of Europe's big three - Air France-KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa.

"Going it alone would have meant that Swiss slowly bleeds to death," Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz told a news conference in the Swiss capital.

Smaller traditional carriers more heavily reliant on short flights are being hammered by low-fare carriers such as Ireland's Ryanair.

High fuel prices have squeezed financially weak airlines further.

EU RULES

Another key driver behind airline privatisation is a widening European Union which means fewer carriers can fall back on state bailouts, prompting governments to redouble efforts to unload their airlines.

Hungary is on its fourth attempt to privatise Malev while Greece has called its efforts to sell Olympic Airlines the company's last chance at survival.

Losses and state control hobbled efforts by Italy's Alitalia to join Air France-KLM.

And Czech carrier CSA said this week it would take another year of cost cutting before privatisation through an initial public offering could begin.

"It's the graveyard," said one London airlines analyst, referring to the risk facing airlines which cannot cut costs, a reality underscored by the collapse of Belgium's Sabena and Swiss predecessor Swissair.

SWISS PROGRESS

Analysts say Swiss won Lufthansa's attention with the progress it made in cutting losses to 140 million Swiss francs last year from 687 million in 2003.

"The key issue is whether Lufthansa can turn it around to create value and how much investment in restructuring is still required," Merrill Lynch analyst Anthony Bor wrote in a recent research note.

Swiss did not always get it right, stumbling in its 2002 re-launch by targeting premier service at a time when much of the industry was scrapping first-class seating in favour of more economy seats where passengers paid for sandwiches.

After an about-face, Swiss started to bring down costs, with management hoping to lower operating costs by another 300 million swiss francs ($255 million) a year through 800 to 1,000 job cuts.

Swiss has already cast off operations such as catering and heavy maintenance, but analysts say it is vital that the latest reforms are carried out.

"Unless Lufthansa can radically change Swiss, there is risk," said Goldman Sachs analyst Hugo Scott-Gall in a recent research note.

Citigroup analyst Andrew Light said with restructuring, Swiss was expected to break even at the operating and net income levels in 2005.

NO HELP FROM UPSTARTS

Despite the woes of traditional carriers, the airlines industry continues to draw new entrants, drawn by growth seen doubling traffic in Europe by 2020.

But upstarts have shied away from taking over existing airlines, reluctant to shoulder the heavy costs of old fleets, pension backlogs and vertically integrated structures where all maintenance and catering, for example, is done in-house.

Analysts say it is easier to start from scratch, keeping costs low through use of Internet booking, outsourced support and leased fleets drawn from a glut of modern planes in storage since the industry's slowdown began in 2001.

After flying the flag for 74 years, Swiss carrier falls in German hands

ZURICH, March 22 (AFP) - The takeover of Swiss International Airlines by Germany's Lufthansa Tuesday effectively marks the end of a 74 year history of old-style Swiss flag carriers.

However, under the deal struck by the two companies, Swiss is expected to continue to fly as a subsidiary under its own brand, with the distinctive national white-on-red cross on its tailplane.

Here is a brief history of Swissair and Swiss.

1931: Swissair starts flying following the merger of Balair and Ad Astra Aero.

1947: Swissair is nationalised and starts transatlantic flights to New York.

1950: Swissair's network extends across five continents. The airline becomes a byword for Swiss steadiness and quality, and an object of pride for many Swiss people, flying the national flag around the world.

1960: The company buys its first jet airliners, French Caravelles and US-made McDonnell Douglas DC8s.

1979: The European regional airline Crossair is set up by a former Swissair pilot in Basel.

1989 - 2002: Swissair tries to join or form alliances with other airlines, without success.

1991: Swissair takes over Crossair, having acquired a minority stake three years earlier

1993: A plan to merge Swissair, Austrian Airlines, Scandinavia's SAS and the Dutch carrier KLM, dubbed Alcazar, collapses.

1997: Swissair's incoming chief executive, Philipp Bruggisser, embarks on the airline's aggressive "hunter" strategy, buying up stakes in other airlines, including Belgium's Sabena, South African Airways, and two smaller French carriers.

1998: A Swissair MD-11 airliner flying from New York to Geneva crashes off the coast of Canada, killing 229 people in the airline's worst ever accident.

1998: After decreasing its financial stake over the years, the Swiss government ends Swissair's de facto monopoly amid open skies agreements with the US and EU.

2001: Bruggisser resigns. The "hunter" strategy collapses and the traditionally steady Swissair's fragile financial situation comes to light.

October 2001: Swissair Group is suddenly grounded leaving hundreds of passengers stranded, after fuel suppliers refuse to deliver the airline unless it pays cash. The parent group slides towards bankruptcy. Catering and technical support subsidiaries are sold off.

November 2001: Federal and regional authorities invest 2.1 billion Swiss francs (1.3 billion euros) in a rescue plan that combines financially healthy Crossair with bankrupt Swissair's flight operations.

March 31 2001: Swiss International Air Lines begins its first flights under the single brand "Swiss", flying under similar livery to the old Swissair. The new airline has a fleet of 128 aircraft and 12,000 employees.

2002 to 2005. Swiss stays firmly anchored in the red as the Iraq war, the SARS outbreak in Asia and poor economic climate cause a global slump in air travel. The company cuts down its fleet and staff. It actively seeks tie-ups with other major airlines to guarantee its survival.

2004: A deal with British Airways collapses, leaving Swiss out of the world's largest airline alliance, Oneworld.

March 14, 2005: After months of rumours, Lufthansa and Swiss reveal that they are in "constructive" takeover talks.

March 22, 2005: Lufthansa announces an agreement to take over Swiss.

The waning of Europe's national flag carriers
By PAUL BETTS
23 March 2005
Financial Times

Even the Swiss have finally been forced to accept that operating an independent national flag carrier is a thing of the past. They could have saved themselves a lot of trouble and money - some SFr2bn - if they had simply allowed their national airline to go bust rather than pursue the obsolete dream of keeping it afloat.

Broad political and popular support for yesterday's takeover of Swiss International by Lufthansa contrasts starkly with the country's ill-considered determination in 2002 to rebuild a national flag carrier out of the ashes of the collapsed Swissair and the Crossair regional airline.

At the time everybody rallied to the cause. The federal government, the cantons, the banks and multinationals, and small savers all paid SFr56 for shares in the new airline, now worth a meagre SFr9.60.

The plan was doomed from the start in a fast-changing industry in the throes of long-overdue consolidation and challenged by a new breed of aggressive European low-cost carrier.

The Swiss hardly helped themselves by maintaining unrealistic international ambitions. Far better if they had followed the example of the Belgians, who let Sabena go, or the Irish, who refused to bail out Aer Lingus.

The Irish carrier has since reinvented itself as a successful low-cost, low-fare operator, while SN Brussels, a small shadow of the former Sabena, lives on as a modest but profitable regional carrier.

Hopefully others, across the Italian and Austrian Alps, will draw from the Swiss lesson.

Are you sure its that much money?

Lufthansa Wins Support To Take Over Swiss Carrier
By TOM WRIGHT
23 March 2005
The New York Times

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 22 -- Deutsche Lufthansa said Tuesday that it had won approval for a staggered takeover of Swiss International Airlines, the successor to the defunct Swissair, setting a floating price for the embattled carrier.

Lufthansa's chief executive, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, and the head of Swiss International Airlines, Christoph Franz, signed an agreement in Zurich to push ahead with the takeover. The deal could be worth as much as 310 million euros ($405 million), and the 15 percent of free-floating stock could be valued up to 45 million euros ($58.8 million).

The remainder, which is held mostly by institutions and the Swiss government, could be worth as much as 265 million euros, depending on how the stock performs in its sector over the next few years, Lufthansa said in a statement. Lufthansa gave no per-share price.

The acquisition was approved by 83 percent of Swiss International's shareholders, including the Swiss government, which has the largest single stake at 20 percent. The boards of both carriers also approved the deal.

''Lufthansa will further expand its position as an internationally leading network carrier by integrating Swiss,'' the statement said, referring to the airline by its local name. Lufthansa said the deal would save about 160 million euros a year beginning in 2007.

The deal was completed as fears ebbed that a takeover by Lufthansa, Germany's national airline, could spark a nationalist backlash in Switzerland. Also, discontent over a perceived waste of taxpayers' money never materialized. The Swiss government spent about 600 million Swiss francs ($504.6 million) to reintroduce the airline in 2002 after it went bankrupt under its previous name, Swissair.

Since it first outlined its takeover plan last week, Lufthansa has been careful to stress that Swiss would keep its brand name, and Zurich's international airport would remain a major passenger hub. Air France's venture with KLM, in which both airlines kept their brands, is so far the biggest airline merger in Europe, where most carriers continue to operate on national lines.

Lufthansa said Tuesday that it would keep Zurich's airport on an ''equitable'' footing with its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. Lufthansa also said it would also help Swiss raise its presence on long-haul routes by giving it two intercontinental jets from Lufthansa's fleet.

The deal would bring Swiss, which has yet to make a profit, into the Star Alliance, an operating partnership that includes Lufthansa, United Airlines, SAS and Varig of Brazil.

INTERVIEW-The man behind the brand sees future for Swiss
By Tom Armitage

ZURICH, March 22 (Reuters) - When Switzerland's new national carrier was unveiled in 2002, the brand name "swiss" was meant to lure in passengers with the promise of premium service, quality and proverbial Swiss reliability.

Now that German giant Lufthansa is stepping in to take over Swiss International Air Lines, and the move is likely to dent Switzerland's national pride, the creator of the "swiss" brand still is certain that the iconic white cross on a red background has a future.

"I don't think the brand will die full-stop. It would really have to be some unattractive arrogance on the side of Lufthansa to say they would kill this off," Tyler Brule told Reuters in a telephone interview.

During three years of cut-throat competition, rising fuel costs and a stumbling global economy, Swiss has not only failed to make a profit, but also to deliver on its ambitious plans to be a cut above the rest.

Even so, "they are sitting on what is still a good brand and has a great reputation in many markets around the world," said Brule, the founder of wallpaper, a style and fashion magazine.

Backed by Switzerland's reputation for neutrality and respectability, the airline can shuttle business people in style around Europe or travellers in safety to Africa and the Middle East, Brule said, as a kind of premium marque in the Lufthansa stable.

"You can't forget there are still many of the world's wealthiest individuals in Switzerland and new wealth coming into the country," he said.

A BENTLEY TO BAGHDAD?

Alternatively, Lufthansa could consider taking advantage of Switzerland's history of neutrality to make Swiss the first European carrier to serve all niche routes, flying into Kabul, Basra and Baghdad, he suggested.

"There are a number of things that rest within Swiss' DNA, which when Lufthansa does more due diligence, they will find there will be good marketing stories to be exploited," he said.

Brule acknowledges that early 2002 was a tough time to launch an airline with the September 11, 2001 attacks still in recent memory and a downturn in the travel industry underway.

"It was the wrong time for any carrier in Europe," he said.

Swiss was born in 2002 with a hefty cash injection from Swiss companies and the government by grafting regional carrier Crossair onto the remains of failed predecessor Swissair.

A series of air accidents, a crash over Swiss airspace and decisions made by the new airline's management - such as a move to save money by denying economy passengers free food and drinks on short-haul flights - also jinxed the early life of the new carrier, Brule said.

"The bullet should have been bitten much earlier, and if people are feeling upset about things now, then it's a little too late," he said.

As for the brand itself, Brule sees Lufthansa taking a leaf from the book of other German companies such Volkswagen or sports equipment maker Puma to shift up-market.

"From autos, fashion and sports goods, German companies have been very good at taking core brands and bolting premium brands on to them," he said. "If Lufthansa is the VW group, then Swiss becomes the new Bentley turbo."

Swiss airline: hawk turned pigeon in European sky wars

GENEVA, March 27 (AFP) - Switzerland's top airline, after being one of the hunters during the 1990s, succumbed to upheaval in the European air travel market last week to become the prey of German carrier Lufthansa.

The takeover of Swiss International Air Lines by its larger and healthier rival on Tuesday for a relatively low price of up to 300 million euros (405 million dollars) came after Switzerland's flag carrier had failed to fly out of problems left by its predecessor Swissair.

Yet, 10 years ago Swissair was a predator, pursuing a "hunter strategy" by buying up large stakes in Belgium's Sabena, AOM and Air Littoral in France, Italy's Volare, German charter company LTU, South African Airlines and the Polish carrier Lot.

That followed the collapse of merger talks with Dutch airline KLM -- now owned by Air France -- with Scandinavian SAS and Austrian Airlines in 1993, and an aggressive alliance strategy that tied in with the now ailing US Delta Airlines.

Before its expansion, Swissair was valued at about 4.3 billion Swiss francs (three billion dollars then).

"The mistake was for Swiss to go for this policy of taking minority shareholdings in AOM and in Sabena, where it didn't have control over the operations or cashflow," said Nick van den Brul, an analyst at BNP Paribas.

Switzerland's airline was partly hampered by being outside the European Union and not being allowed by EU rules to take a controlling stake in its prey at the time.

Swissair expansion was also largely funded by debt, helping to drive the group into bankruptcy in October 2001.

It was reincarnated under the name Swiss and took over Swissair's knowhow, visual identity, staff, infrastructure, flight slots and airliners with the help of about three billion Swiss francs in public and private investment.

But the new offspring was immediately battered by low-cost carriers driving down fares in Europe, a slump in air travel and rising fuel prices. Swiss cut its fleet and staff by one-third last year.

The hope is that Lufthansa's network will help feed passengers into Swiss's hub at Zurich airport and boost profitability.

"The key drive behind consolidation in Europe is how to organise short haul networks around hubs and how to leverage more, and more profitable, long haul flights out of those networks," van den Brul said.

Lufthansa's takeover of Swiss is the second-biggest deal of its kind in European history after the acquisition by Air France of KLM in 2004.

Industry executives have long predicted that mergers or takeovers will gain pace.

"All this appears logical. There is a necessary consolidation in the European market," said Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman of Air France-KLM.

Air France and KLM reached a critical size, and the Lufthansa Group is big enough to survive but might not yet have the mass necessary to reach optimum performance, according to analysts.

Lufthansa also sits at the head of the Star Alliance, combining routes with partners SAS, Austrian, and Britain's BMI -- in which it also holds a minority stake -- and 12 other airlines.

"Alliances work, but only so far, mergers work better because you have total control over who does what," van den Brul remarked.

Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber signalled more investment in Swiss but also said that more major acquisitions were not on the cards.

"We don't want to overload ourselves," he said in Frankfurt.

Company financial chief Karl-Ludwig Kley said that Lufthansa had not ruled out raising its stake in the parent company of regional low cost airline Germanwings above the current 49.5 percent.

Meanwhile, British Airways -- which had agreed on a tie-up with Swiss until the deal collapsed early last year -- has named Willie Walsh, the former chief of Ireland's Aer Lingus, as replacement for departing chief executive Rod Eddington.

Swiss's long-running courtship with Lufthansa was eased after a former executive at the German airline, Christoph Franz, took over as chief executive of Swiss last June.

Eddington had underlined BA's interest in the Spanish carrier Iberia.

Lufthansa eyes no more tie-ups after Swiss - paper

ZURICH, March 27 (Reuters) - Germany's Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) is not considering tie-ups with other airlines and is keeping cost cuts on the agenda for its future acquisition Swiss International Airlines , the company's chief told Swiss Sunday newspapers.

There has been speculation that Lufthansa could seek to expand further after agreeing to take over Swiss.

Lufthansa's Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber dismissed the idea of a partnership with Air France KLM (AIRF.PA).

"That seems extremely far-fetched to me," he said in an interview with Switzerland's NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.

Mayrhuber added he had no other company currently in view for a tie-up, after agreeing to splash out on a deal worth up to 310 million euros ($403 million) with Swiss.

Loss-making Swiss would not be bailed out with a capital hike, Mayrhuber said, but would have to press on with its stringent programme of cost cuts.

"There is no reason (for a capital increase)," he told the SonntagsZeitung. "The restructuring steps will have a lasting influence."

Mayrhuber added that spinning off Swiss' regional network was an option for the airline.

"The management of Swiss already have a positive notion of this," he said.

Swiss To Sell 15 Prop Jets As Part Of Lufthansa Takeover
1 April 2005

MUNICH (Dow Jones)--Swiss International Airlines Ltd. (SWIN.EB) Chief Executive Christoph Franz said Friday the airline has decided to sell 15 turboprop aircraft as the company restructures further.

Franz did not mention a buyer, price or other details.

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) recently announced plans to take over the struggling Swiss carrier for EUR310 million.

FOCUS: Lufthansa-Swiss Deal Could Stroll Past Regulators
By Adam Cohen
08 April 2005

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--Lufthansa AG's (LHA.XE) takeover of Swiss International Inc. (SWIN.EB) might have less trouble clearing European regulators than first imagined.

When the deal was announced March 23, airline experts said European antitrust authorities would likely force the combined carrier to give up take-off and landing slots at its Frankfurt and Zurich hubs. But Zurich has plenty of spare capacity and Air Berlin, the main short-haul airline flying through more crowded Frankfurt, says it has no objections to the takeover.

Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest carrier, says it won't appeal to regulators. A company spokeswoman said the airline was happy with its current routes and saw no problems with the Lufthansa-Swiss slots in Frankfurt or Zurich.

When regulators approved Air France's (AKH) takeover of Dutch KLM, competitors did complain and the carriers were forced to give up 47 slots in Amsterdam and Paris. British low-cost carrier Easy Jet Plc (EZJ.LN) demanded even stiffer penalties and appealed the ruling.

The E.U. doesn't just rely on complaints from airlines before demanding concessions and they still could force Lufthansa and Swiss to give up slots to allow new entrants on certain routes.

"We have a great deal of experience dealing with cases in this sector," Philip Lowe, the Europe's top antitrust civil servant, said recently. "We look into competition on routes."

Airline analysts doubt they will press too hard though. "When two airlines get together there aren't usually monopoly issues except for traffic between their two hubs, said Mike Powell of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

Lufthansa and Swiss declined to comment on the takeover or the routes that regulators might scrutinize.

Zurich's international airport should be even less of an issue than Frankfurt, analysts say. The Swiss national carrier's declining traffic over the past few years has left the airport with "plenty of spare capacity," according to Klaus Linde, an airline specialist at SES Research in Hamburg.

"Lufthansa and Swiss aren't going to have to give up as much as Air France and KLM," Linde said.

The Lufthansa-Swiss deal could prompt regulators to look at international routes as both airlines fly to major international destinations like New York and Tokyo.

Analysts say European regulators might be less willing to force the airlines to give up international slots while Europe's fragmented air industry is consolidating.

"The competition issues are really within Europe at the moment," Linde said. "I don't think they (the commission) would want to look beyond that."

Swiss pilots threaten strike over job cuts

FRANKFURT, April 8 (Reuters) - Pilots at loss-making Swiss International Air Lines, which is being taken over by Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa, are threatening to strike over plans to cut jobs at its regional business.

The union is demanding a guarantee that more pilots will remain at the carrier than Swiss planned under a cost reduction programme and that those made redundant receive better financial packages.

"Ninety-three percent of our pilots voted in favour and gave us a mandate for strike action," Christoph Frick, president of the Swiss pilots' union, said on Friday. "We now have a free rein, but there is still no concrete decision to strike."

The union is hoping to reach a compromise with Swiss management in the coming weeks. Swiss was created in 2002 by combining the remnants of collapsed Swissair with regional carrier Crossair. The company wants to cut a further 800 to 1,000 jobs to lower annual costs by about 300 million Swiss francs ($248.1 million) annually by 2007.

Frick said the number of Crossair pilots had dropped from more than 1,000 to about 450 since the new carrier was born. Swiss wants to cut this by half again and improve productivity by 40 percent, he said.

Following the announcement last month that Lufthansa will buy Swiss at a cost of up to about 310 million euros ($397.4 million), executives at both companies pledged to continue lowering costs at Swiss, which has burned through billions of francs in its first three years without ever making an annual profit.

Lufthansa makes offer of 8.96 Swiss francs for remaining shares of Swiss
04 May 2005

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Lufthansa on Wednesday offered 8.96 Swiss francs (�5.80; US$7.46) a share for Swiss International Airlines Ltd.'s remaining stock, part of the German airline's takeover plan.

Lufthansa said its offer will run through June 2, adding the price was based on the average opening price of Swiss stock from March 23, the day Lufthansa said it would acquire the airline.

Swiss' board has already recommended that its shareholders take the offer, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG has commitments from Swiss International's major shareholders, representing around 85 percent of total shares.

Lufthansa said its overall cost for the takeover would likely be as much as �310 million (US$398.54 million), with �45 million (US$57.8 million) going to minority shareholders.

Swiss Intl Air CEO Franz Waives Advance Share Payment
6 May 2005
Edited Press Release

ZURICH (Dow Jones)--Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. (SWIN.EB), in the process of being taken over by Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), said late Thursday its chief executive is giving up his right to an advance payment in shares of the Swiss carrier.

The offer prospectus for the purchase offer currently being made to Swiss International Air minority shareholders includes the information that President and Chief Executive Officer Christoph Franz would be immediately entitled to 100,000 shares in the event of a change of control at Swiss International Air, a development which is now expected to occur in 2006.

This is a customary provision of results-based compensation models. The share options concerned, which could otherwise be exercised in 2008, are part of the compensation package agreed between Christoph Franz and the Board of Directors when he joined the company, and were publicly communicated Apr. 2004.

To avoid unnecessary public debate, however, and to eliminate any impression of deriving special benefit from the planned change of control, Christoph Franz has asked the Board of Directors to postpone any issue of the shares until 2008.

Swiss Air April load factor rises to 79.4 percent

ZURICH, May 10 (Reuters) - The seat load factor at Swiss International Air Lines rose to 79.4 percent in April, up 2.2 percentage points from a year ago, the flag carrier said on Tuesday.

The seat load factor, a measure of the number of seats sold as a percentage of capacity, gives no indication as to the profitability of the routes.

Swiss, which is being taken over by Germany's Lufthansa , carried 842,805 passengers in April.

Lufthansa said on Monday it had 5 percent more traffic in April than in the same month a year earlier, boosted by demand on Asia-Pacific routes. It had a passenger load factor of 73.7 percent in April.

Rival British Airways had a load factor of 74.7 percent, while Air France KLM's factor stood at 79.2 percent last month.

In March, Lufthansa agreed to take over Swiss, ending three years of independence for the loss-making carrier, which was created from the ashes of grounded predecessor Swissair and regional carrier Crossair.

'Swiss' may lose independent status if still unprofitable by 2007 - report
15 May 2005

ZURICH (AFX) - Swiss International Air Lines AG may lose its status as an independent entity under the roof of Deutsche Lufthansa AG should the Swiss airline fail to turn profitable by 2007, SonntagsZeitung reported, citing CEO Christoph Franz.

Time is running out for Swiss to implement its promised restructuring, which is meeting stiff resistance from trade unions, SonntagsZeitung said. Otherwise, 'Swiss' will be reduced to a 'feeder airline' for Lufthansa, the newspaper cited the airline's CEO as saying privately.

At the airline's general meeting next Thursday, Franz is likely to concede another quarterly loss.

Moreover, a positive operating result for 2005 looks more and more unlikely given increased fuel prices and difficulties with Swiss' planned reduction of its regional fleet by 13 aircraft.

Lufthansa notifies acquisition of Swiss International Air Lines to EU
26 May 2005

BRUSSELS (AFX) - The European Commission said Deutsche Lufthansa AG has notified its planned acquisition of Swiss International Air Lines AG and that it will rule on its initial investigation on June 24.

The commission, which polices competition in the 25 EU member states, will now start an initial investigation lasting one month, after which it may decide to clear the deal, attach conditions or open an in-depth probe.

In all likelihood, the deal will be cleared with conditions, as was the case in the merger of Air France and KLM. EU competition director-general Philip Lowe has previously said the commission will look at routes and networking effects.

'Swiss' to join Star Alliance
2 June 2005

ZURICH (AFX) - Swiss International Air Lines AG, which is currently being acquired by Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa, said it will join the Star Alliance in the coming year after the alliance's board accepted the Swiss airline's application at a meeting in Japan.

Upon the integration of 'Swiss' and South African Airways, another new applicant, the Star Alliance network will consist of 18 airlines.

The other members are Lufthansa, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways International, United, US Airways and VARIG Brazilian Airlines.

Lufthansa Now Holds 96% Of SWISS Shares
03 June 2005

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) Friday said it holds 96% of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. (SWIN.EB) following Thursday's offer deadline.

The shares are held for Lufthansa in the custody of Swiss company AirTrust AG. For 84.6% of the shares, Lufthansa has written guarantees from Swiss's large shareholders. The other 11.4% were secured for Lufthansa via an offer made to minority shareholders by AirTrust. [ 03-06-05 0553GMT ]

Lufthansa offered CHF8.96 a share to Swiss's minority shareholders. For those who haven't yet accepted, there will be a further acceptance period of 10 trading days from June 9 to June 22.

The 96% holding exceeds the level required for the major shareholder to conduct a squeeze-out of remaining, minority shareholders. Once cartel approval for Lufthansa's takeover of Swiss is officially granted, AirTrust might pursue the squeeze-out.

Lufthansa sees Swiss flying back into profit in 2007

FRANKFURT, June 8 (AFP) - German flag carrier Lufthansa expects its newly acquired Swiss unit to fly back into profit by 2007, the German airline's chairman Wolfgang Mayrhuber said in a newspaper interview Wednesday.

"We're pencilling in a positive contribution to earnings from Swiss in 2007," Mayrhuber told the daily Die Welt.

Swiss, which Lufthansa acquired in March, was already cutting costs, the chairman said.

"In 2006, it will be decisive what comes out of the wage negotiations with the unions for the pilots and cabin staff," and what can be gained from Swiss' technical, airport, air traffic control and catering activities, Mayrhuber said.

Lufthansa's China revenue seen growing -exec

SHANGHAI, June 14 (Reuters) - China is expected to contribute a fifth of German airline Lufthansa's revenue in Asia Pacific within five years, up from around a sixth now, a senior executive said on Tuesday, as more affluent Chinese take to the skies.

Lufthansa AG booked 2.1 billion euros ($2.54 billion) in passenger revenue in Asia Pacific last year, a rise of 18 percent year-on-year, according to its annual report, accounting for about 20 percent of the global total.

"It's a market with great potential, as less than one percent of Chinese travel by air," Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa's executive vice president for marketing and sales, told Reuters. "We look at China with optimism."

The German airline operates 41 weekly flights from China, connecting four cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong -- with Frankfurt and Munich.

Lufthansa, which competes with British Airways Plc , Air France-KLM , Air China and others on the China-Europe route, began scheduled services to mainland China in 1980.

Passenger numbers on China routes rose 26 percent in the first five months from a year earlier and Antinori said he expected continued double-digit growth in the years to come.

But he declined to comment on what other Chinese cities Lufthansa may consider flying to, other than that the airline was evaluating new destinations.

Star Alliance member Lufthansa, Europe's second most valuable airline, also has code share flights with two Chinese partners -- Air China and regional player Shanghai Airlines Co. Ltd. . ($1=.8255 Euro)

Lufthansa's AirTrust holds 98.7 pct of 'Swiss' share capital, plans squeeze-out
23 June 2005
AFX International Focus

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Lufthansa's Almea Foundation hold a total of 98.7 pct of Swiss International Air Lines AG ('Swiss') share capital via Almea's AirTrust AG, according to a joint statement issued by Lufthansa and 'Swiss'.

AirTrust is now planning to squeeze out remaining minority shareholders of 'Swiss', they said.

'Swiss' raises fuel charges on long-haul, domestic flights effective July 1
28 June 2005

ZURICH (AFX) - Swiss International Airlines ('Swiss') said it raising its fuel surcharge on all of its flight starting July 1 in response to a sharp rise in crude oil and aviation fuel prices in recent weeks.

The air carrier said it is raising its fuel surcharge to 53 sfr per leg (from 48 sfr) for long-haul flights and to 20 sfr per leg (from 18 sfr) for European flights.

Lufthansa gets US approval for takeover of Swiss International
4 July 2005

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - German airline Lufthansa AG said Monday it received unconditional approval from U.S. regulators for its planned €310 million (US$374.7 million) takeover of Swiss International.

The Cologne-based airline still needs European regulatory approval before the deal -- announced in March -- can go through.

U.S. antitrust authorities gave their approval for Lufthansa to acquire Swiss International Airlines Ltd. over the weekend. European Union regulators are expected to make their decision next week.

Swiss has suffered massive financial problems since it was created out of Swissair in 2002, racking up losses of 2 billion francs (US$1.64 billion; €1.3 billion) so far.

Lufthansa has pledged to maintain the Swiss brand and run it as a separate Swiss-based airline operating from its hub in Zurich.

Lufthansa is Europe's third-largest passenger airline, behind British Airways and Air France-KLM, and flies to more than 330 destinations in 90 countries.

Lufthansa Takeover of Swiss Int'l Gets OK
5 July 2005

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Lufthansa AG won clearance from the European Union on Tuesday to proceed with its $374.7 million takeover of Swiss International Air Lines provided the carriers surrender slots at several airports including hubs in Zurich and Frankfurt.

Company officials said the decision means they could complete the deal by 2006 at the earliest.

EU approval came after U.S. antitrust regulators gave their clearance to the deal over the weekend.

The slots that would be given up would amount to "a total of up to 41 roundtrips per day," a news release said.

Under the terms of the EU approval, both airlines may also have to give up slots at Munich, Duesseldorf, Berlin; Vienna, Austria; Stockholm, Sweden; and Copenhagen, Denmark, said Lufthansa spokeswoman Christine Ritz.

"At the moment, we don't have to give up the slots," she said. "It's only if there's a new entrant or if there are no slots available. Right now, we're still flying on all these destinations."

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the takeover of Swiss, which has suffered massive financial problems since it was created out of Swissair in 2002, "should not lead to higher prices or reduced choice of carrier."

The EU head office said its investigation into the deal found that competition was reduced the most on the Zurich-Frankfurt and Zurich-Munich routes and also said that competition on long-haul routes to the United States, South Africa, Thailand and Egypt would be affected.

The EU also got assurances from the Swiss civil aviation authority that it would give traffic rights to other carriers wanting to stop over in Zurich on flights to the U.S. "or other non-EU destinations."

Lufthansa has pledged to maintain the Swiss brand and run it as a separate Swiss-based airline operating from its hub in Zurich.

"The green light from Brussels and Washington gives us the opportunity to ensure the long-term future of the air transport connections that are so crucial to Switzerland and its economy," Swiss President and Chief Executive Christoph Franz said.

Lufthansa, Europe's third-largest passenger airline behind British Airways and Air France-KLM, decided in May to buy troubled Swiss, which was racking up losses of 2 billion francs ($1.64 billion) since its creation three years ago.

Ritz said Lufthansa will increase its stake in AirTrust -- the vehicle by which Lufthansa is buying Swiss shares from its minority shareholders -- from 11 percent to 49 percent.

"Once the current negotiations to secure Swiss' traffic rights have been successfully concluded and corresponding agreements have been obtained, Lufthansa will raise its holding in Swiss to 100 percent," she said, adding that could happen by 2006.

Shares of Lufthansa rose 0.2 percent to 10.26 euros ($12.20) in morning Frankfurt trading.

Swiss cancels six flights after suspending 52 pilots

BASEL, Switzerland, July 12 (AFP) - The airline Swiss cancelled six flights and suspended 52 pilots Tuesday after they warned that fears over job uncertainty could affect their performance in the air.

The airline, which is being bought by Lufthansa, said the cancellations affected less than 100 passengers travelling to Munich and Brussels.

It said on Monday night it would suspend immediately the 52 pilots and have experts test their aptitude after they signed an open letter to management in which they said uncertainty about their future could have "repercussions on safety".

The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, approved on July 5 the German carrier's acqusition of Swiss.

Sound like the pilots tried to blackmail the company: "Either we get a job guarantee or something bad might happen!". Right decision by Swiss to suspend these pilots and do psychological background checks.

Swiss Air June load factor rises to 81.5 pct

ZURICH, July 12 (Reuters) - Swiss International Air Lines' seat load factor rose to 81.5 percent in June, up 5 percentage points from a year ago, as business on both intercontinental and European flights picked up.

For the first six months of the year, the seat load factor rose 3.5 points to 76.9 percent from the same period a year ago.

The seat load factor, an indication of the number of seats sold as a percentage of capacity, is an industry benchmark of capacity utilisation but gives no indication as to the profitability of the routes.

Swiss, which has been taken over by Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa , carried 4.69 million passengers in the first half of the year, up 2.7 percent from the year-ago period, it said in a statement.

Lufthansa has already said it had 5.2 percent more traffic in June than in the same month last year, the biggest monthly rise since January, driven by Asia-Pacific and European travel.

Its passenger load factor rose 1.7 percentage points to 77.2 percent in June.

Rival British Airways has said its load factor rose 1.2 percentage points to 78.9 percent, while Air France KLM's load factor was up 2.4 points at 81.5 percent.

In a statement late on Monday, Swiss said it had suspended 52 regional fleet pilots until their flying ability had been checked. A spokesman said that, as a result, Swiss had cancelled three flights from Basel on Tuesday.

Those pilots had written an open letter to Swiss last week, in which they pointed to problems regarding cockpit safety.

Swiss in a statement affirmed the safety of its aircraft but said it took the pilots' statement seriously and would respond by checking the pilots' own capabilities.

Swiss said it could not yet determine potential financial losses resulting from the suspension and that it was taking disciplinary action against the 52 pilots.

Swiss is trying to shrink its regional fleet and trim 800 to 1,000 jobs as it aims to become profitable.

Lufthansa To Start Two New Routes To Ukraine
14 July 2005

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) said Thursday it will introduce two new flights from Germany to Ukraine in the autumn.

From Sept. 9, the German airline will operate six flights a week between Munich and Donesk in eastern Ukraine, and from Oct. 30 will fly from Frankfurt to Ukrainian transport hub Dnipropetrowsk, also six times a week.

From Aug. 29, Lufthansa will start a new route to the Ukrainian capital Kiev from Duesseldorf.

Germany is Ukraine's second-largest trading partner and some 1,000 German companies have bases in Ukraine, Lufthansa said.

Lufthansa offer 99-euro tickets in German airline price war

FRANKFURT, Germany 26 July (AFP) - German airline Lufthansa, locked in a price war with low-cost rivals, said Tuesday it would offer 900,000 return tickets at 99 euros (119 dollars) on its domestic routes.

The announcement came after another German carrier, DBA, offered 500,000 single tickets for 49.99 euros through the chain stores Aldi. The promotional deal includes international routes to Rome, Florence and Nice.

An airline price war has been raging in Germany for the past several months with Air Berlin and German railways Deutsche Bahn the first to offer tickets in supermarkets.

Wednesday August 10, 1:54 AM
Lufthansa Reports Lower First-Half Profit

AP - German airline Lufthansa AG on Tuesday reported a sharply lower first-half net profit but higher operating results.

The carrier said it earned 200,000 euros ($250,000) for the first half of 2005. Net profit for the same period last year was 39 million euros, but that included 292 million euros in profit from the sale of shares in the Cologne-based company's online booking service, Amadeus.

Operating profit for the first half came to 253 million euros ($312 million), compared to 33 million euros in same period the previous year. Full-year operating results were expected to be more than 400 million euros ($494 million), the company said in a brief statement.

Revenue for the first half totaled 8.5 billion euros ($10.5 billion), compared with 8.3 billion euros the previous year.

More details were to be released Wednesday, the company said in a brief statement.

Lufthansa chief says high oil prices having 'enormous' effect on business
3 September 2005

BERLIN (AP) - Lufthansa's chief executive said in comments released Saturday that high oil prices are having a major effect on the German airline's business, with fuel costs set to rise to euro2.5 billion (US$3.1 billion) this year from euro1.4 billion two years ago.

Oil prices have soared over recent months, although a surge that followed Hurricane Katrina this week subsided Friday as 26 governments agreed to release the equivalent of 2 million barrels per day from strategic reserves.

Lufthansa chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber told the weekly Der Spiegel that the effect of oil prices on the airline was "an enormous one."

"It is frustrating for employees to see how all the good savings are being eaten away by oil price rises," Mayrhuber was quoted as saying. The airline has worked hard over recent years to improve profits by cutting costs, and he noted that "we are at least still making a profit, unlike many competitors."

Last month, Lufthansa raised its operating profit forecast for this year, predicting that it would earn more than euro400 million (US$502 million). That was up from a previous forecast that it would roughly match last year's euro383 million.

"But we need at least double that if we really want to create value and move forward," Mayrhuber told Der Spiegel. "For that, I would need euro10 to euro12 more (US$12.50 to US$15.05) more per passenger. I am not going to get that, which is why we are pushing down costs."

Lufthansa says August traffic was up 5.2 percent

FRANKFURT, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa had 5.2 percent more traffic in August than in the same month a year earlier, driven by growth on long-haul routes to the Asia/Pacific region and the Americas, the German airline said.

The number of passengers carried rose 1.5 percent to 4.58 million, while the passenger load factor -- indicating the average number of seats sold as a proportion of seats available -- was up 2.4 percentage points at 77.7 percent of capacity.

"Demand for passenger services continues to grow strongly," said Lufthansa in a statement on Friday. "All the traffic regions improved their performance."

The stock was 0.4 percent higher at 11.16 euros by 1141 GMT, outperforming a 0.1 percent decline in the German blue-chip DAX index.

Traffic grew 5.2 percent on routes to north and south America and gained 4.6 percent on Asia/Pacific routes.

The largest percentage increase was 11.3 percent on Middle East and African routes, where the load factor also showed the biggest improvement, up 3.8 percentage points.

In Europe, where Lufthansa is under increasing pressure from competition from low-cost carriers, the airline achieved a 3.9 percent rise in traffic and a 1.2 percentage-point improvement in the load factor to 67.1 percent of capacity.

The amount of freight and post carried declined 3.5 percent to 137,000 tonnes last month, as Lufthansa's cargo division failed to fill 3.7 percent more capacity.

But Lufthansa said: "Cargo clearly succeeded in adjusting its sales and distribution activities in order to stabilise average (income) yields."

Rivals Air France-KLM , British low-cost carrier easyJet , Scandinavia's SAS and Finnish national carrier Finnair all posted solid rises in passenger traffic for August on Wednesday.

The increases have come against a backdrop of record oil prices which are forcing some European carriers to increase ticket surcharges to compensate for higher fuel costs.

"EU Commission to study competitive effects..."


How could the EU Commission ever allow the AF-KLM merge?

Friday October 7, 5:12 PM
INTERVIEW: Lufthansa Expects Further Expansion At Munich
By George Frey

MUNICH (Dow Jones)--German airline Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA.XE) is set to significantly expand Munich hub operations by pouring money into its fleet and into airport infrastructure in the next three to four years.

The airline's chief of hub management at Munich Airport, Karl Ulrich Garnadt, said Lufthansa wants to double the number of long-haul aircraft it flies from the airport to 30, and bulk up short-haul operations so passengers can catch connecting flights.

Lufthansa aims for 6% to 7% annual growth in passenger numbers at Munich airport for the next few years, he said.

"Munich has been Lufthansa's center of growth in the last couple of years, and we're continuing to build it up as a premium hub," Garnadt said. "Business is doing well volume-wise and in line with our long-term projections."

Once the airline is certain that new routes can sustain larger planes, Lufthansa will start using them, including the new Airbus A380. The so-called "Super Jumbo" can seat as many as 700 people.

Lufthansa says Munich Airport only needs to make "a few minor gate changes" to be ready for the A-380, and Garnadt said it may start flying that aircraft out of Munich as early as 2008.

Garnadt said Lufthansa and the airport will have to invest in infrastructure to keep to their growth projections. He declined to say how much the airline would spend.

He welcomed the airport's announcement in July that it is planning a third runway at the airport, allowing for 120 aircraft movements an hour rather than the current 89 movements. The airport hopes to make the runway operational by 2010.

Lufthansa would consider making a direct investment in the new runway if requested by the airport, Garnadt said. But, users pay indirectly for infrastructure improvement anyway, he pointed out.

The airport's Terminal Two, which serves Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partners, will also have to be expanded if the airline keeps to growth targets, Garnadt said. The terminal, which opened in 2003, serves about 20 million passengers a year, 80% of the terminal's capacity.

Lufthansa holds a 40% investment stake in the terminal, which cost about EUR1.2 billion.

The Star Alliance is a group of about 20 airlines that includes Lufthansa, Air Canada (ACNA.YY) and Singapore Airlines (S55.SG).

Garnadt said that in the next two or three years, Lufthansa and Munich Airport will most likely build a full-service departure hall and aircraft pier facility above an already existing baggage-handling building near the present Terminal Two.

An underground tram will connect the new departure hall to the Terminal Two check-in area.

The new departure hall and baggage facility, complete with retail units and restaurants, would also likely double the number of docking facilities for Terminal Two aircraft, from 24 to 48.

Though Garnadt could not predict what the project might cost, he said Lufthansa would consider an ownership structure similar to that of Terminal Two.

"Our partnership with Munich Airport has been a great success," he said.

Company Web site: http://www.dlh.de

Swiss International Airlines has confirmed it plans to spin off its regional flight services, with the company board approving the creation of a new carrier.

Swiss, which is being acquired by Germany's Lufthansa, is being put under pressure by its new owner to cut costs.

The Swiss board has approved the creation of Swiss European Airlines. The company name was registered in September, and the Federal Office for Civil Aviation has been asked for an Airline Operating Certificate.

Preparations are now underway to set up the new carrier according to Swiss spokesman Jean-Claude Donzel, who confirmed a report published in the latest edition of the Sonntagszeitung Sunday paper.

Donzel admitted that the airline board had decided to spin off regional operations, but refused to give further details as the company will inform about the project in the next few days.

According to the Sonntagszeitung, the first flights could take place next month.

Cut costs
The head of Lufthansa, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, told the Sonntagsblick newspaper that spinning off regional operations should help cut costs at Swiss. He said the airline had to become profitable as soon as possible.

While he admitted that setting regional operations adrift would be "painful", he added it was a necessary move to maintain jobs. But he is also putting Swiss management on notice.

"Swiss must break even next year and contribute positively to group profits by 2007," he said.

Swiss has been told to save SFr300 million ($235 million)net annually. "All Lufthansa's subsidiaries have the same task: make money and not waste cash," commented Mayrhuber.

Setting up a separate company for regional services has been on the cards for some time at Swiss. In May 2003, the company announced the creation of Swiss Express to compete with low-cost carriers.

The project was however opposed by Swiss Pilots, the union of the former Crossair pilots who form the backbone of the airline's regional services. Just two months after the plan was announced, Swiss backed off after signing a deal with the pilots.

Conflict
The carrier is in the midst of reorganising its regional services after tripling its net loss during the first six months of the year. It is also facing an ongoing conflict with Swiss Pilots.

The former Crossair pilots, who feel they are getting the rough end of the stick with the reorganisation, want any job cuts to be shared equally between themselves and the Swissair pilots who make up the cockpit crew.

Swiss took to the skies in March 2002 following the amalgamation of Crossair and the remains of Swissair, which collapsed in 2001.

At the end of June, Swiss announced it was cutting its regional fleet from 35 to 24 aircraft by next summer. It will only keep its Avro RJ jets, and rid itself of the Embraer 145 and Saab 2000 planes that carry less than 100 passengers.

The number of jobs that could be lost is still unclear. Around 100 pilots and 85 cabin crew are concerned by the reorganisation.

The planned fleet reduction came on top of plans to cut 800 to 1,000 jobs at Swiss announced in January. At the end of June, the group employed 6,477 people.

Swiss Intl Air Passengers Number Up 4.6% In 9 Mos
11 October 2005

BASEL (Dow Jones)--Swiss International Air Lines (SWIN.EB), a unit of Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA.XE), Tuesday said the number of passengers using the airline's regional and intercontinental services rose 4.6% to 7.33 million in the first nine months of 2005 compared to the year-ago level. The passenger load factor - an important industry figure that compares occupied seats versus the total number of offered seats - improved 3.9 percentage points to 79.1% during the reporting period.

Passenger numbers and capacity utilisation reach new heights
Successful capacity management again increases seat load factor
12.10.05
Corporate Press Release

More passengers and a significantly higher passenger load factor: that is the positive result achieved by Lufthansa after the first nine months of 2005. During this period 38.8 million passengers chose to fly Lufthansa – an increase of 0.5 per cent year-on-year. Sales rose by 4.7 per cent, outpacing the moderate increase in capacity. The passenger load factor consequently rose by 1.5 percentage points to 75.8 per cent, the highest nine-month level ever recorded by the company.

From January to September Lufthansa Cargo transported 1.3 million tonnes of freight and mail – on a par with the previous year’s performance. Capacity increased by 2.7 per cent due to additional belly space available on passenger aircraft. This caused the cargo load factor to slip by 2.2 percentage points. As a result, the Group’s overall load factor (passenger and freighter aircraft) declined slightly to 70.6 per cent.

Lufthansa amasses stake in Fraport
29 October 2005

Lufthansa has in the past weeks spent Euros 170m amassing a near 5 per cent stake in Fraport, operator of Frankfurt airport, as Europe's second-largest airline moves to to gain greater influence over the future of its major hub.

Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa chief executive, called the move "a strategic investment in our core business". The airline did not exclude raising its stake in the long-term.

Karl-Ludwig Kley, chief financial officer, said the airline would apply for a seat on Fraport's 21-member supervisory board to have a direct say about its policies.

Fraport, whose majority shareholders are the state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt, is planning a new terminal and runway to increase the capacity of Europe's second-largest airport from 56m passengers annually to more than 80m in the next 10 years. Lufthansa accounts for 60 per cent of traffic.

The airline's move came on the heals of the German government's sale of its 18.2 per cent Fraport stake to institutional investors on Wednesday. Lufthansa refused to say whether it had bought shares in follow-on deals. The 4.95 per cent stake had been bought "at different times" and would be rounded out to 5 per cent in the coming weeks.

Gerrit Wiesmann, Frankfurt

Lufthansa shares up, hopes of strong Q3

FRANKFURT, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Shares in German airline Deutsche Lufthansa rose in active trade on Wednesday amid market expectations of strong third-quarter earnings and a possible full-year profit forecast upgrade, analysts said.

At 1505 GMT the share price was up 2.2 percent at 11.56 euros having hit a two-week high of 11.61 euros earlier in the day. It was the second most traded stock in Frankfurt by volume with 6.2 million shares changing hands.

"There are positive expectations in the market for the nine-month figures that Lufthansa will present next week," said Uwe Weinreich, an analyst at HVB.

"The forecast for the full year might be raised," he said.

Lufthansa is due to release its October traffic data on Nov. 8 and its third-quarter results on Nov. 10.

Lufthansa's half-year report on Aug. 10 beat market consensus by a wide margin.

At the time Europe's second-largest airline measured by passenger traffic -- it flew 38.8 million people in January-September -- raised its full-year 2005 operating profit forecast to more than 400 million euros against 383 million in 2004.

Since Aug. 10 Lufthansa shares have risen by 7.5 percent, outpacing rivals such as British Airways , up 5.2 percent, and Air France KLM , up 2.3 percent.

Lufthansa shares are currently priced at 13.6 times forecast earnings compared with 12.2 for British Airways and 12.9 for Air France KLM. (Additional reporting by Andreas Moeser)

GERMAN PRESS: New System To Help Lufthansa Boost Profit
6 November 2005

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) plans to increase its profit by EUR80 million to EUR100 million a year with its new revenue management system, German weekly magazine Focus is to report Monday.

According to the report, the new system shows how many seats per price category and route need to be sold to maximize profits. Lufthansa plans to limit the number of cheaper tickets and sell more of the expensive ones, the report adds.

Lufthansa plans to limit the number of cheaper tickets and sell more of the expensive ones, the report adds.

Wow, smart boys! :D

Lufthansa passengers down, first fall since March

FRANKFURT, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa carried 2.1 percent fewer passengers in October than a year earlier, it said on Tuesday, the first monthly year-on-year decline in customers since March.

The number of travellers fell across the German airline's global network, with the biggest drops in its European and American routes, and it lagged rivals who carried more in the month.

Passenger traffic, a figure which takes account of both the number of passengers and the distance they travelled, rose slightly in October, up 0.6 percent.

Lufthansa said in a statement its October traffic figures compared with record levels a year earlier.

But it lagged a 6.4 percent increase in October traffic at British Airways (BA) and an 8.9 percent rise at larger competitor Air France KLM .

BA also carried 2.2 percent more passengers in October, while Air France KLM saw a larger increase of 5.3 percent.

Europe's biggest low-cost carriers, Ryanair and easyJet , reported gains of 23 percent and 14 percent respectively in passenger numbers for October.

"Both (traffic) and the number of passengers fell below our forecasts," said LRP analyst Per-Ola Hellgren. "The disappointment is particularly big because the results from BA and Air France had awoken hopes of a good month."

DISAPPOINTMENT

Lufthansa's overall passenger load factor -- which measures the average number of seats sold as a proportion of seats available -- declined 0.8 percentage points in October to 74.7 percent, the first monthly slip since May.

The German airline also reported the largest monthly drop this year in the amount of cargo and post carried by its Lufthansa Cargo division. The figure fell 4.3 percent to 157,000 tonnes.

Shares of Lufthansa were 0.9 percent lower at 11.73 euros at 1509 GMT, underperforming a 0.3 percent drop in the German blue-chip DAX <.GDAXI> index.

Lufthansa will be expected to give more details about traffic development at its passenger and cargo airlines on Thursday, when it is due to publish third-quarter earnings. Some analysts also expect it to raise its 2005 profit forecast.

Operating profit is expected to rise to 231 million euros ($271 million) for the quarter, up from 218 million a year ago, according to the average of 13 analysts' forecasts in a Reuters poll. Sales are expected to rise to 4.72 billion euros from 4.47 billion.

Lufthansa has said it expects to post operating profit of more than 400 million euros for the full year, compared with 383 million in 2004, as it benefits from growth in air travel and pursues a target of cutting costs by 1.2 billion euros by the end of 2006.

But several analysts have said they expect Lufthansa to raise its full-year profit forecast because demand has remained strong despite fuel surcharges on tickets designed to offset soaring fuel costs.

LRP's Hellgren cautioned in a note on Tuesday that the October traffic figures could be the first sign of a weakening trend in the fourth quarter.

German carrier Lufthansa reports jump in nine-month net earnings

FRANFKURT, Nov 9 (AFP) - German carrier Lufthansa reported net earnings Wednesday of 416 million euros (488 million dollars) in the first nine months of the year, up from 164 million in the same period of 2004.

The result beat expectations of market analysts, who had foreseen net earnings in the period of 380 million euros.

At the operating level earnings came to 471 million euros against 251 million in the 2004 period. Analysts had predicted operating earnings of 500 million euros.

Sales in the January-September period rose to 13.3 billion euros from 12.7 billion in 2004.

For all of 2005, Lufthansa said it saw operating earnings well in excess of 400 million euros.

Hkskyline, will the acquisition of Swiss International Airlines (formerly known as Swissair) make Lufthansa the largest Airline Company/Group in the world, KLM-Air france notwithstanding? :)

According to a 2004 news article from Reuters reporting on the Air France/KLM merger clearance by the EU, they will form the world's largest airline by revenues, followed by Japan Airlines. By passenger traffic, Air France/KLM will be 3rd behind American and United.

According to a Reuters article from September 2004, Lufthansa is the world's 5th largest airline by market capitalisation, while Air France-KLM is 7th. Southwest is first, followed by Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

2004 IATA Statistics
http://www.iata.org/pressroom/wats/wats_passengers_carried.htm

By Passengers
1. Lufthansa - 34.4 million
2. BA - 28.6 million
3. Air France - 26.9 million
4. KLM - 20.3 million
5. American - 18.8 million

Air France and KLM combined will be #1 in the world.

By Passenger KM Flown
1. Lufthansa - 103.9 million
2. BA - 102.9 million
3. Air France - 97.0 million
8. KLM - 63.9 million

By this measure, Air France/KM will also be the largest in the world.

Lufthansa says to maintain passenger fuel surcharge

FRANKFURT, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa said on Monday it currently had no plans to cut the fuel surcharges it imposes on passenger tickets after its cargo division said it would lower its charges.

"We are keeping a close eye on the market. But no changes are planned at the moment," a Lufthansa spokeswoman said on Monday.

Lufthansa Cargo said earlier it planned to cut the fuel surcharges it imposes on customers to 0.50 euros per kilogram from 0.55 euros from Nov. 28 following an easing in oil prices.

GERMAN PRESS: Lufthansa Ramps Up Against Discount Rivals
22 November 2005
Dow Jones International News

Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA.XX), the German airline, plans to defend its home market by greatly increasing its routes from Duesseldorf in January as a defense against discount rivals, according to Financial Times Deutschland.

That move is just a first step, a spokesman said. In Hamburg, Lufthansa, as a test, already offers many more discount flights, with more planes and routes, simpler service and lower costs.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.ftd.de

The A380 lands at Frankfurt:

Lufthansa-video (http://a380.lufthansa.com/de/html/presse/a380_movie.php)

Lufthansa takes on low-cost airlines in battle for German skies

FRANKFURT, Dec 4 (AFP) - In the fierce battle for domination in the German skies, flag carrier Lufthansa is seeking to beat low-cost rivals, such as Air Berlin, DBA, Ryanair and easyJet, at their own game by expanding its own network of cut-price domestic and European services.

Only a few years ago, Lufthansa scaled back its European services from airports other than the two main hubs of Frankfurt and Munich to focus on long-haul routes.

But now it wants to take on budget rivals by boosting its own network of German and European flights from secondary hubs such as Duesseldorf and Hamburg.

A pilot project is already underway in Hamburg. And if that proves successful, the venture could be expanded to airports such as Duesseldorf or Stuttgart, a Lufthansa spokesman said.

"Lufthansa has learned a lot from the business models of low-cost carriers and is seeking to combine that knowledge with its own strengths," said Ralph Beisel, airline expert at Arthur D. Little in a recent study.

In Hamburg, for example, the German airline aimed to boost the number of flights by 14 percent and the number of seats available by 30 percent, the spokesman said.

Beisel calculated that Lufthansa could boost earnings on its Hamburg services by 20 percent as long as it cut prices and costs and increased tickets sales.

Lufthansa insists the Hamburg offensive is not a strategic U-turn, simply a response to changing market conditions.

"By expanding our programme in Hamburg and Duesseldorf, we're reacting to strong demand in both cities," the spokesman said.

The regional state transport ministry in Duesseldorf, for example, had recently given the go-ahead for the airport to boost capacity, including the launch of new routes to destinations such as Madrid and Nice.

"Given the economic strength of North Rhine-Westphalia, the demand for frequent services, particularly on the part of business customers, is high," the spokesman said.

Analysts said that Lufthansa had been complacent on the German market for too long.

"It's a matter of not losing additional market share to the low-cost airlines," said Merck Finck analyst Robert Heberger.

"Alongside Britain, Germany is one of the most competitive markets in Europe."

The Irish cut-price carrier Ryanair and Britain's own easyJet had already established a strong presence in Germany.

But native German rivals such as Air Berlin and DBA also recently stepped up their campaign to dethrone Lufthansa.

DBA recently placed an order for 40 new Boeing 737 jets with the explicit aim of becoming the number one airline in the domestic German market.

And the smaller low-cost rivals are also forging alliances to increase the pressure on Lufthansa.

Air Berlin is teaming up with aircraft leaser Germania.

And from December 1 Air Berlin and DBA have agreed to market each other's tickets on their own websites.

While the loose arrangement did not extend to full code-sharing and the two airlines were not planning to acquire any cross-shareholdings, some analysts believe the move could evenutally pave the way to a full merger.

Lufthansa says Nov traffic rises 3.4 percent

FRANKFURT, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa had 3.4 percent more traffic in November than in the same month a year earlier, driven by demand within Europe and on Asia-Pacific routes, the carrier said on Friday.

The number of passengers carried rose 3.6 percent to 4.1 million, while the passenger load factor -- which measures the average number of seats sold as a proportion of seats available -- was up 0.9 percentage points to 73.1 percent.

"In Europe, Lufthansa succeeded in selling the targeted capacity increase (of 5.2 percent) on the market," Lufthansa said in a statement.

European and domestic traffic grew 6.3 percent last month, with a slight increase of 0.6 percentage points in the load factor to 61.3 percent.

Asia-Pacific traffic grew 6.2 percent, but the November load factor in the region dropped 1.1 percentage points to 78.3 percent as Lufthansa was unable to fill 7.8 percent more capacity.

The Americas was the only region to post a decline in traffic last month, falling 1.7 percent. But a 5.2 percent cut in capacity helped the carrier boost the passenger load factor by 2.9 percentage points to 80.8 percent.

The amount of freight and post carried declined 1.1 percent to 155,000 tonnes last month, the airline added.

Shares of Lufthansa were down 1 percent at 11.92 euros by 1244 GMT, compared with a 0.3 percent drop in the German blue-chip DAX <.GDAXI> index.

Larger rival Air France KLM said on Wednesday that its November traffic grew 12.2 percent. Smaller UK competitor British Airways said on Monday that traffic increased 6.3 percent last month, boosted by a strong rise in first- and business-class travel.

Lufthansa CEO sticks to profit goal, eyes savings

FRANKFURT, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The chief executive of German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said he is sticking to a target of eventually making an annual operating profit of 1 billion euros ($1.20 billion), and will seek to boost efficiency and productivity further.

"We need 1 billion euros to be able to say with a clear conscience that this company creates value, that it can grow and that it will not be deflected from its course, even in turbulent times," Wolfgang Mayrhuber said in Lufthansa's staff newspaper.

The company has said it expects to make an operating profit of significantly more than 400 million euros for 2005, up from 383 million last year.

Progress towards the 1 billion-euro goal had been held back by soaring fuel costs as 2005 oil prices reached record levels. The airline faces fuel costs of about 2.5 billion euros this year, with the bill expected to climb to 3.5 billion next year. "As things stand, it will take a little while, but we must and we will achieve our goal," Mayrhuber said.

The chief executive reiterated that cost savings would remain in focus in the interview in Friday's edition of the Lufthanseat.

Lufthansa said last month more cost cuts would be needed in addition to 1.2 billion euros of savings planned by the end of 2006, without giving details.

"A company that wants to move forward has to constantly seek opportunities to become leaner, more efficient and more productive," Mayrhuber told the staff newspaper.

He said negotiations with trade unions and employee representatives were becoming "increasingly arduous and unsatisfactory for both sides" but that he continued to aim for consensus between the parties.

EUROPEAN CONSOLIDATION

The airline head said that the takeover and integration of Swiss International Air Lines had exceeded his expectations and that market reaction had been very positive.

"Increasingly, Swiss is positioning itself as a quality carrier," he said.

Mayrhuber added that no further integrations or mergers were planned at the moment, but said Lufthansa was "well prepared" for further European airline consolidation.

"I firmly believe that a consolidated European aviation industry would be fundamentally well positioned, and that Lufthansa will play an important, cooperative role in the development of the entire air transport system," he said.

Saturday December 31, 5:51 PM
Swiss Airlines and pilots reach truce

ZURICH (AFP) - The management of Swiss International Airlines and pilots have agreed to keep talking in an attempt to reach a new wage agreement, heading off an implied threat to start replacing pilots who have declined to sign new labor contracts.

In the agreement reached late Friday, the two sides said they would set up a timetable for fresh talks aimed at achieving a new collective labor agreement by April 1, when the company is due to launch a regional carrier called Swiss European Air Lines.

After the last collective agreement expired in October, pilots assigned to the regional carrier were told to sign individual contracts, which the pilots' union said entailed salary cuts and the abolition of automatic salary releases based on length of service.

Christoph Franz, the CEO of Swiss International Air Lines, warned earlier this month that the company might start hiring new air crews in January unless the pilots signed the individual contracts.

Franz said in a statement issued December 25 that four out of five of the 300 pilots assigned to the regional carrier had not sent back signed individual contracts. They were given until Saturday to do so.

Swiss International, an amalgamation of bankrupted Swissair and the regional carrier Crossair, has for several months been involved in merger talks with the German carrier Lufthansa.

Lufthansa targets 10 pct '06 growth at Duesseldorf

FRANKFURT, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa wants to grow passenger numbers at its number three airport by a tenth to 4 million this year, as the airline seeks to take on competition from low-cost carriers in its home market.

Lufthansa is adding 56 flights a week from January at Duesseldorf airport, with almost half of return flights within Europe from the airport costing less than 129 euros ($156).

The move follows the introduction of 99-euro flights at Hamburg airport in autumn.

Lufthansa had previously said it was adding only 44 additional weekly services at Duesseldorf, where airlines including DBA, Air Berlin and Germanwings also operate.

Lufthansa says 51.3 million passengers flew aboard its planes in 2005
10 January 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Lufthansa AG said Tuesday that 51.3 million passengers flew aboard its planes in 2005, a record figure, but up less than 1 percent from the year before.

The Cologne-based airline recorded 50.9 million passengers in 2004.

Its passenger load factor -- a measure of how full its planes are -- improved by 1 percentage point to 75 percent in part because capacity increased by 2.5 percent with sales rising by 4 percent.

Lufthansa said its cargo division carried 1.73 million tons of freight and mail during 2005 -- a 1 percent decrease from 2004, when it carried 1.75 million tons.

Swissair goes under again, on the big screen

ZURICH, Jan 16, 2006 (AFP) - Switzerland is reliving a national nightmare on the big screen, as a new film on the demise of flag carrier Swissair opens this week.

The docu-fiction "Grounding, or the Last Days of Swissair" traces the 2001 collapse of what was long an icon of the global airline industry and a jewel in Switzerland's business crown.

The title refers to the humiliating date of October 2, 2001, when Swissair's planes were unable to leave airports worldwide after aviation fuel companies refused to supply the carrier because of its financial woes.

That left thousands of passengers stranded and wrecked the carrier's reputation for Swiss efficiency and quality service.

The grounding also sent shockwaves across Switzerland, as the country woke up to the airline's ill-fated and flawed expansion strategy which was based on buying up loss-making foreign carriers.

The company's bankruptcy was compounded by the fact that Swissair was steered by leading lights of the country's establishment, who had been seen as steady hands by most ordinary Swiss.

"Switzerland still hasn't got over the grounding," said the Zurich newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.

"We set the bar too high, and we identified ourselves too much with Swissair," it added, pointing to the widespread disbelief at the time that the airline could go under.

Swissair was relaunched in 2002 as the slimmed-down Swiss International Air Lines -- known as "Swiss" -- using a combination of taxpayers' money and input from Swiss industry.

In the face of continued financial headaches, the new airline trimmed its staff, fleet and schedule in several rounds of restructuring.

Swiss was taken over by Germany's Lufthansa last year, although it still flies under its own name.

Swiss Int'l Air Lines CEO Sees More Consolidation
27 January 2006
By Aude Lagorce

DAVOS, Switzerland (Dow Jones) -- The pace of growth in the airline industry will slow in 2006 and consolidation will continue in Europe, predicts Swiss International Air Lines CEO Christoph Franz.

Franz told MarketWatch at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that some players in the airline industry might not be able to survive the high oil prices and additional cost pressures.

Ticket prices will likely continue to rise and demand could slow in 2006 in comparison to 2005 as higher oil prices reduce customers' available income for travel, he said.

On the strategy front, Franz said Swiss International Air Lines would continue to position itself as a quality carrier. "We should not try to copy the low-cost airlines," he said.

Last year the carrier tried to make economy passengers pay for food and beverages but quickly reverted to offering them for free.

Asked if he expects any big mergers in the industry in the next year, Franz said that the consolidation trend would continue but declined to name specific candidates.

"If the consolidation doesn't happen fast enough, there will be other airlines that will leave the market," he said.

Swiss International was taken over by Deutsche Lufthansa in March. Franz insisted that it is keeping a separate identity.

In November the carrier reported a 50% fall in third-quarter profit as high fuel prices and low fares continued to hamper its turnaround.

Lufthansa to boost Asian capacity this year

FRANKFURT, Feb 2, 2006 (AFP) - German flag carrier Lufthansa said Thursday that it planned to boost capacity on routes to and from Asia this year in an effort to extend its position as the leading European airline in the Asian region.

Lufthansa said it would offer three additional connections to Shanghai from Frankfurt, two additional flights to Hong Kong from Munich, and four extra flights to Beijing, also from Munich, the statement said.

"The Asia programme will be rounded off by the inclusion of four additional connections per week from Frankfurt to Hyderabad (India)," the statement said.

Overall, Lufthansa planned to boost total capacity by 1.3 percent in its summer timetable, the airline said in a statement.

In the long-haul business, it would increase capacity to and from Asia by 2.0 percent.

Capacity on routes to Africa and the Middle East would be increased by 1.2 percent. North American business would be increased by 0.4 percent and capacity in Germany and Europe by 4.6 percent.

Lufthansa still sees significant fuel bill rise

FRANKFURT, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa still expects its fuel bill to soar as much as 40 percent this year, the airline's finance chief told an investor day in Frankfurt on Thursday.

Karl-Ludwig Kley reiterated his forecast for fuel costs to rise to 3.2-3.5 billion euros in 2006 from an estimated 2.5 billion ($3.02 billion) in 2005, a Lufthansa spokeswoman said, confirming his comments to investors.

The world's airlines are battling higher fuel expenses as oil prices linger at record levels. Lufthansa Star Alliance partner Singapore Airlines said on Thursday the high price of jet fuel was its biggest worry after fuel accounted for 37 percent of total expenditure in its fiscal third quarter.

Analysts attending the investor day told Reuters Lufthansa said its Thomas Cook holiday firm joint venture with KarstadtQuelle and its LSG catering division continued to be considered non-core businesses, though there was no information on possible concrete plans to dispose of the units.

German retailer KarstadtQuelle has repeatedly said it is interested in buying Lufthansa's half of Thomas Cook.

The Lufthansa spokeswoman said Lufthansa still had no plans to part with Thomas Cook.

Lufthansa shares rise after upbeat investor day

FRANKFURT, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Shares in German airline Deutsche Lufthansa were among the leading gainers on Germany's benchmark stock index on Friday as investors were upbeat following an investor day held in Frankfurt on Thursday.

Shares in Lufthansa were up 1.7 percent at 13.33 euros by 1113 GMT, compared with a 0.4 percent gain in the blue-chip DAX <.GDAXI> index. The stock earlier rose as much as 4.4 percent to 13.69 euros.

Both management and information given at the event, which was closed to the media, were "highly convincing", said DZ Bank analyst Raimon Kaufeld in a note following the investor day.

"The business performance in 2005 was excellent," he said. "(Finance chief Karl-Ludwig) Kley is highly optimistic for 2006, despite the high oil price. Strong demand means that higher kerosene prices can be passed on to consumers." Analysts who attended the investor day told Reuters on Thursday that Lufthansa had reiterated its forecast for fuel costs to rise as much as 40 percent to 3.5 billion euros ($4.23 billion) in 2006.

Lufthansa is about 85 percent hedged for fuel for 2006. The airline imposes fuel surcharges on air tickets of 52 euros one-way on long-haul flights and 12 euros one-way on domestic and European services.

Analysts said on Friday that Kley hinted at the event that management might propose a dividend increase.

DZ Bank's Kaufeld expects a dividend of at least 0.40 euros a share for 2005, up from 0.30 euros for 2004. He rates Lufthansa "buy".

Merrill Lynch analysts said in a note that Lufthansa implied the consensus 2005 dividend forecast of 0.35 euros a share meant there could be a positive surprise when the dividend is announced, traders familiar with the note said.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman said on Friday the airline would not comment specifically on the dividend until it publishes 2005 results in March.

DISPOSAL PLANS

Analysts also said on Thursday that Lufthansa said its Thomas Cook holiday firm joint venture with KarstadtQuelle and its LSG catering division continued to be considered non-core businesses, although there was no information on possible concrete plans to dispose of the units. The Merrill Lynch analysts wrote that Lufthansa said it was still hopeful of progress on disposals in 2006 and that it would consider airline acquisitions at the right price, though there was currently no suitable target.

JPMorgan analyst Chris Avery said on Friday that there was nothing price sensitive from the investor day, though "obviously it went down well with German investors".

(Additional reporting by Michael Smith in London)

Lufthansa to raise fuel surcharge on cargo flights by 5 euro cents
6 February 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Lufthansa AG will increase the fuel surcharge on its cargo flights to its previous level of 50 euro cents (US$0.60) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of freight because of rising fuel costs, the airline said Monday.

The airline had the same rate last year, but it was later lowered to 45 euro cents.

The increase will take effect Feb. 20, the company said.

The airline cited high oil prices, which have been around US$65 a barrel. Lufthansa said it would review fuel and oil prices periodically for the rest of the year and could raise or lower the surcharge.

Shares of Lufthansa were up nearly 1 percent to euro13.49 (US$16.27) in Frankfurt trading.

Lufthansa jet skids off runway at Belgrade airport; no injuries
9 February 2006

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - A Lufthansa jet skidded off the icy runway at Belgrade Airport as it was lining up for takeoff, causing no injuries or major damage, officials said.

The Airbus A320 came to a stop in a field next to the airport's sole runway as it was heading for takeoff, said Sasa Bosanac, an aircraft mechanic at the airport.

Nebojsa Starcevic, the director of Serbia's national JAT Airways, said the probable cause of the skidding was ice on the runway. He said the plane skidded some 80 meters (yards) off the tarmac.

Lufthansa AG spokesman Thomas Jachnow said the plane would be examined by Lufthansa technicians for any damage and, pending a safety check, would be rotated back into service.

Flight No. 3409 had been scheduled to fly to Frankfurt and had 63 passengers aboard when it slipped on ice on the runway, he said.

"The passengers left the plane in the normal way and were rebooked on other flights," Jachnow told The Associated Press.

Lufthansa reports new increase in passenger numbers in January

FRANKFURT, Feb 9, 2006 (AFP) - German airline Lufthansa said on Thursday that passenger numbers increased again in January, driven primarily by strong demand for flights within Europe and to the Asia-Pacific region.

Lufthansa said in a statement that 3.639 million people travelled on its aircraft last month, 3.1 percent more than in January 2005.

But with a 5.2-percent increase in the number of flights and the number of seat-kilometres sold not rising as fast as the number of seat-kilometres on offer, capacity utilisation was down compared to the high level recorded last year.

The so-called seat-load factor, a key measure of profitability, fell by 1.3 percentage points to 72.0 percent in January, the airline said.

In Europe, the number of passengers was up by 4.2 percent at 2.752 million and the number of people flying to the Asia-Pacific region rose by 4.4 percent to 322,000.

By contrast, passenger numbers on routes to the Americas were down by 4.3 percent at 396,000 and on routes to the Middle East and Africa the number of passengers slipped by 0.5 percent to 166,000.

At the same time, Lufthansa said that freight traffic declined in January. Lufthansa Cargo transported 145,000 tonnes of freight and post last month, a decline of 3.1 percent on a 12-month basis.

Swiss flight to Miami diverts to Halifax because of engine trouble
12 February 2006

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - A Swiss airplane flying from Zurich to Miami had to divert Sunday and make an emergency landing at Halifax, Canada, a spokesman said.

The Airbus A-330 landed in Halifax at 7:45 a.m. local time after the pilot decided to cut short the flight when he noticed that the oil pressure in one of the engines was dangerously low, said Juerg Dinner, a spokesman for Swiss International Airlines.

The pilot initially diverted to Montreal but, as the oil pressure continued to fall, he had to turn off one engine and land in Halifax, which was closer, Dinner said.

The passengers were taken to a hotel and were to board another Swiss plane later in the day. A technician has been sent to Canada to repair the engine, Dinner added.

Germany's financial watchdog investigating Lufthansa's takeover of Swiss airline
By MATT MOORE
24 February 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Germany's financial watchdog, BaFin, said Friday it is investigating the US$375 million takeover of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. by Lufthansa.

The regulator said it was investigating whether Cologne-based Lufthansa AG properly disclosed news of its takeover as soon as possible so as to avert any appearance of financial impropriety, like buying and selling shares before a major merger.

The agency's actions were first reported by weekly news magazine Spiegel in an advance copy of an article to be published Monday.

"We received a request for information from BaFin," Lufthansa spokesman Michael Goentgens told The Associated Press, adding that the company could not comment further.

German flag carrier Lufthansa, Europe's third-largest passenger airline behind British Airways and Air France-KLM, decided in May 2005 to buy troubled Swiss, which had racked up aggregate losses of about 2 billion Swiss francs since its creation in 2002.

In early July, Lufthansa won clearance from the European Union and U.S. antitrust regulators to proceed with its US$375 million takeover, provided the carriers surrender slots at several airports including hubs in Zurich and Frankfurt.

In January, Lufthansa said that its process to acquire all of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.'s shares was complete and the company was delisted.

Shares of Lufthansa were flat at euro13.94 (US$16.66) in Frankfurt trading.

GERMAN PRESS: Lufthansa Wants More Acquisitions Long-Term
26 February 2006

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) wants to increase its international competitiveness with further acquisitions in the long term, German daily Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung reports in its Saturday edition.

"The takeovers of Eurowings and Swiss were just the beginning," said Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber, according to the report.

Mayrhuber said that in light of global competition, companies need to achieve a certain size in order to survive. "Thus, we have to be in a position to execute more takeovers in the long term," the report cites him as saying.

Mayrhuber rules out hostile takeovers, the report adds.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.faz.de

Lufthansa reports increase in passenger numbers in February

FRANKFURT, March 9, 2006 (AFP) - German airline Lufthansa said on Thursday that passenger numbers increased again in February, driven primarily by strong demand for flights within Europe and to the Asia-Pacific region.

Lufthansa said in a statement that 3.586 million people travelled on its aircraft last month, 3.0 percent more than in February 2005.

But with a 2.7-percent increase in the number of flights and the number of seat-kilometres sold not rising as fast as the number of seat-kilometres on offer, capacity utilisation was down compared to last year.

The so-called seat-load factor, a key measure of profitability, fell by 1.3 percentage points to 70.4 percent in February, the airline said.

In Europe, the number of passengers was up by 3.9 percent at 2.802 million and the number of people flying to the Asia-Pacific region rose by 7.5 percent to 305,000.

By contrast, passenger numbers on routes to the Americas were down by 5.2 percent at 336,000 and on routes to the Middle East and Africa the number of passengers declined by 2.4 percent to 143,000.

At the same time, Lufthansa said that freight traffic declined in February.

Lufthansa Cargo transported 131,000 tonnes of freight and post last month, a decline of 3.3 percent on a 12-month basis.

Swissair liquidator files new lawsuit against former directors

ZURICH, March 18, 2006 (AFP) - The liquidator of Swissair said Saturday he has filed a lawsuit against the former board of directors of SAirGroup, the parent company of defunct Swissair, for having put money into Sabena airline.

The directors injected capital totalling 150 million euros (183 million dollars) into the Belgian carrier in February 2001. It was part of the flawed attempt to expand Swissair overseas that led to the demise of Switzerland's flagship carrier in 2002.

The liquidator, Karl Wuethrich, announced that he filed the lawsuit in a district court in Zurich in a letter addressed Saturday to creditors. The move followed a failed attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement.

Wuethrich said in the letter that the directors were responsible for damages because they recapitalized Sabena while they were aware of the "disastrous economic situation" of the SAirGroup.

In addition, the directors knew that the injection of cash in Sabena would not be enough to cover the Belgian airline's financial needs in the short term, Wuethrich added.

In December 2004, Wuethrich had announced he was preparing charges against 25 people who took part in executive decisions at Swissair between 1998 and 2001.

The total amount of damages at stake was a whopping five billion Swiss francs (3.8 billion dollars, 3.2 billion euros), claimed by some 18,000 creditors, including banks, shareholders and contractors.

In April last year the liquidator filed the first lawsuit against former heads and adminstrators of Swissair seeking 280 million Swiss francs in damages.

Swiss flies into higher losses

FRANKFURT, March 23, 2006 (AFP) - Swiss airline, which rose from the ashes of the bankrupt Swissair, lost 178 million Swiss francs last year (113 million euros, 136 million dollars), its parent company Lufthansa announced on Thursday.

The losses deepened from the 140 million Swiss francs that Swiss made last year.

Annual turnover rose year-on-year to 3.58 billion Swiss francs from 3.52 billion the previous year.

Yet Lufthansa, the German national carrier, said it was happy with the acquisition of Swiss and said it expected to save 150 million euros this year from pooling the two airlines' resources.

"The effects of synergies from the integration of Swiss have been felt to a greater extent and quicker than expected. This could be seen in 2005," Lufthansa chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber said.

"In 2006, the effects of synergy should be twice as high as first thought."

Lufthansa 2005 Sales EUR18.07B Vs EUR16.96B
23 March 2006

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) Thursday reported a 6.5% rise in full year 2005 sales despite bird flu, terrorism fears and high fuel prices over the past year.

Lufthansa said sales rose to EUR18.07 billion from EUR16.96 billion in 2004. Net profit, which the company reported late Wednesday, rose 12.1% to EUR453 million from EUR404 million in 2004.

The airline said earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization rose 26% to EUR2.55 billion from EUR2.02 billion.

"We have aimed high in 2005 and achieved more than expected," said Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber.

"We are strategically well positioned and are operating successfully against tough competition. We are growing, we have become more profitable, and we have invested in future-promising products and quality," he added.

The Frankfurt and Cologne based company said 2005 earnings per share rose 5.3% to EUR0.99.

A poll of seven analysts by Dow Jones Newswires showed they expected sales at EUR17.79 billion, net profit of EUR527 million and EPS of EUR1.17.

At 0910 GMT, Lufthansa shares were up 3.8% at EUR14.30.

Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz said it would raise its target price on the stock to EUR15 from EUR14, on the back of the higher-than-expected 2005 dividend, which it sees as decisive for short-term share potential. It keeps the stock at marketperformer.

Lufthansa said it expects 2006 operating profit to be flat at last year's level. By 2008, it expects operating profit of around EUR1 billion.

The company said it had reached its 2004-2005 cost saving goal of EUR780 million, and would hit its total cost savings goal of EUR1.2 billion in 2006.

It expects carrier Swiss, which it bought in 2005, to break even this year and post a profit next year.

CEO Mayrhuber noted the company's catering unit LSG SkyChefs and travel company Thomas Cook AG, which it jointly owns with retailer KarstadtQuelle AG (KAR.XE), returned to an operating profit in 2005.

Fuel costs this year will amount to around EUR3.3 billion, the company said, although it has so far hedged up to 90% of those costs.

The company said it would increase its passenger capacity moderately during the year and offer more low-cost flights.

"Our strategy as a full-line provider is paying off," CEO Mayrhuber said. "We stand on individual services for individual needs, purpose-designed for every requirement."

Company Web site: http://www.dlh.de

Zurich prosecutors file charges against former Swissair executives, board members
31 March 2006

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Prosecutors said Friday they have filed charges against 19 former top executives and board members of the defunct Swissair for their part in the national airline's 2001 bankruptcy.

The entire managerial board is included in the charges of defrauding creditors, falsifying documents, making false statements about the business and mismanagement, the Zurich cantonal (state) prosecutor's office said.

The Swiss flag carrier was abruptly grounded on Oct. 2, 2001, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and leading the country's four main political parties to demand that former executives be held responsible.

Top of the list was former Chief Executive Philippe Bruggisser, who oversaw the airline's expansion strategy until he was forced out in January 2001, and is one of those being charged by prosecutors in Zurich, the former headquarters of the company.

The others charged are former chief financial officers George Schorderet and Jacqueline Fouse, as well as board members Mario Corti, Verena Spoerry, Lukas Muehlemann, Andres Leuenberger and Thomas Schmidheiny. Corti later became CEO himself.

Corti's lawyer rejected the accusations and said Corti would defend himself. Lawyers for a number of the others accused also refuted the charges.

Spoerry, a member of the Swiss parliament, said she was disappointed that she and other former members of the board of the holding company SAirGroup were included among those charged.

"I know of no criminally relevant act that the management board is supposed to have committed," Spoerry told German-language Swiss radio DRS. "It's not a nice feeling to be accused. But I'm sure I will be able to prove my innocence."

Eric Honegger, a former chief executive of SAirGroup who also was charged, described the accusations as unfounded.

The consulting firm Ernst & Young said in a 2003 report of its investigation that leadership errors, dubious accounting methods and lack of controls all contributed to Swissair's collapse and left the way open for legal proceedings against former management.

The Swissair board must have known in summer 2000 that the company faced a deficit of 4.5 billion Swiss francs (then around US$2.7 billion), the investigation concluded, and the carrier's grounding was unnecessary on strictly financial grounds because Swissair had 123 million francs (then US$76.9 million) at its disposal, not just the 14.5 million francs (then US$9 million) it claimed.

Swissair was long a symbol of reliability and quality. After its abrupt demise, the Swiss government and big banks were forced to inject billions of dollars into the successor Swiss International Air Lines.

Swiss struggled to regain passenger confidence after starting operations in 2002, and has been taken over by Germany's national carrier Lufthansa AG.

Lufthansa Sees 10%-20% Growth In Chile Travel
By Stephan Kueffner
5 April 2006

SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--The number of passengers traveling to and from Chile on Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) flights will rise some 10%-20% this year, said Timo Friedrichs, head of local operations for the German airliner.

"That's after 25% growth in 2005 and 15% growth in 2004," and above the 10.2% rise in Chilean international air travel, he told Dow Jones Newswires.

"This is an interesting market," but faced with surging fuel costs on lengthy routes, Lufthansa - and other carriers - are treading carefully.

With the introduction of its new flight plan, Lufthansa on Monday extended its Swiss International unit's flight from Zurich to Santiago - one of the first cost-saving efforts of Lufthansa after taking over the Swiss carrier last year.

Previously, the Airbus 340-300 was idle for a day and "a plane on the ground means costs," Friedrichs said. And while the move reduces the airline's planes destined to the region to just two, fewer seats "can offer more interesting returns," he added.

At the same time, Lufthansa increased connections through its hubs in Europe, using Sao Paulo as a mini-hub, with the Lufthansa plane that formerly flew to Santiago now destined to the Asian market.

Lufthansa's passengers traveling to and from Chile topped 100,000 last year - claiming some 7% of Chile's international air travel - and growing far faster than passenger travel growth under 1% for the airline as a whole last year.

Recent long waits at immigration and check-in counters show a Santiago airport - which accounts for practically all internation travel from and to the country - fast becoming too small for demand, Friedrichs added.

Rivals like Chilean Lan Airlines SA (LFL) are also flying full planes to Europe but refraining from expanding, while discount airline Air Madrid has joined the fray.

But "I can't just raise ticket prices" to match the surge in fuel costs that has cut into airline earnings this year. A high percentage of its customers fly to Europe more than once a year, and prices far higher than current tickets could lead to people traveling less, he added.

The move to Swiss reintroduces a first class, eliminated on the previous Lufthansa plane. Lan also flies a first class to Europe but is phasing it out in favor of an upgraded business class on flights to North America.

Lufthansa expects Swiss to break even this year and post a profit next year.

The German carrier's two-year-old cooperation deal for air cargo with Lan has functioned well, Friedrichs said.

Lufthansa says first quarter passenger numbers rose 2.8 percent on year
11 April 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Lufthansa AG said Tuesday that 11.4 million passengers flew aboard its planes in the first three months of 2006, up 2.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

The Cologne-based airline said passengers taking advantage of specials to Eastern Europe and travel to and from Asia and the Pacific contributed to the increase.

Its passenger load factor -- a measure of how full its planes are -- fell by 1.5 percentage points to 71.8 percent.

Lufthansa said its cargo division carried 410,000 metric tons (451,947 U.S. tons) of freight and mail -- a 1 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2005.

Shares of Lufthansa fell more than 2 percent to euro14.49 (US$17.53) in Frankfurt trading.

I had a bad experiencee with Lufthansa. But I won't tell it here :bash:

http://www.globalphotos.org/frankfurt/20050424/RIMG0261.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/frankfurt/20050424/DSCN9063.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/frankfurt/20050414/FRA-CDG137.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/frankfurt/20050414/FRA-CDG142.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/frankfurt/20050414/FRA-CDG144.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/frankfurt/20050424/DSCN9049.jpg

Swiss hikes fuel surcharges on passenger tickets because of high oil prices
20 April 2006

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Swiss International Air Lines, which has been taken over by Germany's Lufthansa AG, said Thursday it would raise its fuel surcharges on passenger tickets because of high oil prices.

Swiss said the surcharge hike would go into effect April 25 and would apply for all longhaul, European and domestic flights.

Longhaul services will be subject to a 106 Swiss franc surcharge (US$83.51), up from the current charge of 93 francs (US$73.27). Rates for European and domestic flights will increase to 32 francs (US$25.21), from 29 francs (US$22.85).

Swiss last raised the rates in September 2005.

German flag carrier Lufthansa, Europe's third-largest passenger airline behind British Airways and Air France-KLM, decided in May 2005 to buy troubled Swiss, which had racked up aggregate losses of about 2 billion francs since its creation in 2002.

In January, Lufthansa said that its process to acquire all of Swiss' shares was complete and the company was delisted from the Zurich exchange.

I´ve always thought that LH is the second behind AF-KLM? Or did they become third through the merger of KLM and Af?

I´ve always thought that LH is the second behind AF-KLM? Or did they become third through the merger of KLM and Af?
It looks like the IATA still hasn't combned the two airline sets together in their data : http://www.iata.org/pressroom/wats/wats_passengers_carried.htm

Total (International + Domestic)
Scheduled Passengers Carried

Rank Airline Thousands
1 American Airlines Inc. 91570
2 Delta Air Lines, Inc 86783
3 United Airlines 71236
4 Northwest Airlines, Inc. 56429
5 Japan Airlines International 51736
6 Deutsche Lufthansa A.G. 48268
7 All Nippon Airways 46450
8 Air France 45393
9 US Airways, Inc 42400
10 Continental Airlines, Inc 40548

International

Rank Airline Thousands
1 Deutsche Lufthansa A.G. 34407
2 British Airways p.l.c. 28567
3 Air France 26904
4 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 20286
5 American Airlines Inc. 18841
6 Singapore Airlines Ltd. 15877
7 Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. 13623
8 Thai Airways International Public Company Ltd. 13277
9 Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) 12823
10 Japan Airlines International 12732

Pilots for German carrier Lufthansa win 2.5 percent pay rise
6 June 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - German carrier Lufthansa AG said Tuesday its pilots will be receiving a 2.5 percent pay raise starting next month, as well as additional payments.

The airline, Germany's largest, said in a statement it reached an agreement with the Cockpit pilots' union for the pay hike, effective July 1. The deal also includes an additional 1.5 percent raise on next March 1, and a one-time payment worth 10 percent of a monthly wage.

The Cockpit union represents 4,000 pilots at Lufthansa and its cargo division.

Lufthansa said the agreement also includes a more flexible working time plan to react better to seasonal or crisis-related changes in the future.

Lufthansa's May passenger traffic up 7.7 percent from 2005 on increased travel in Europe
9 June 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - More passengers flying to destinations in Europe helped airline Lufthansa AG post a 7.7 percent increase in passengers during May, the company said Friday.

The Cologne-based airline said it carried more than 4.8 million passengers worldwide last month compared to the same time last year.

The highest growth, with 9.9 percent more passengers, was recorded in Europe in part because of the addition of more flights from its hubs in Germany.

In the Americas, passenger numbers dipped by 3.6 percent after fewer planes were kept in service. In Asia, the passenger load factor rose by 3.8 percent.

In the Middle East and Africa, passenger numbers fell by less than 1 percent because of fewer seats sold on flights there.

Shares of Lufthansa rose more than 1.6 percent to €13.82 (US$17.49) in Frankfurt trading.

Lufthansa - SWISS Integration

The integration of SWISS will take place in separate stages. Having gained the approval of the regulatory authorities, the main requirements for the merger have already been met. Now it is a case of implementing the planned synergies as quickly as possible.

22 March 2005
Announcement of the takeover and integration of SWISS

23 March 2005
Lufthansa acquires an 11% stake in the Swiss-domiciled company AirTrust, which holds SWISS shares

4 May 2005
Public offer to purchase shares held by minority SWISS shareholders

23 June 2005
AirTrust holds 98.7% of SWISS equity

4 July 2005
The European Commission and the US competition authorities approve the takeover of SWISS

20 July 2005
Initial customer benefits are realised: mutual recognition of the respective frequent flyer programmes Lufthansa Miles & More and Swiss TravelClub, lounge access for Gold customers and combinable air fares

August 2005
Lufthansa increases its stake in Air Trust to 49%

30 October 2005
Step-by step integration with effect from the 2005/2006 winter timetable

1 January 2006
Sales activities to be coordinated

1st half of 2006
Accession to Star Alliance planned

1 April 2006
Miles & More becomes SWISS’s frequent flyer programme

2006/2007
Complete takeover of AirTrust by Lufthansa once SWISS’ traffic rights have been secured

^^Can someone tell me if the Swiss brand will remain? Or will it be completely swallowed up by Lufthansa?

Lufthansa says opposes air traffic control fee rise

FRANKFURT, June 26 (Reuters) - Germany's biggest airline, Deutsche Lufthansa , said it opposes plans by the firm in charge of controlling the country's air traffic to hike the charges it imposes on carriers using its services next year.

State-owned Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) wants to increase charges by 13 percent in 2007 to help it make pension provisions of 780 million euros ($981.5 million) arising from an accounting switch ahead of its planned privatisation.

But Lufthansa, which is DFS's largest customer, wants the fees to be lowered, not raised.

"If it really comes to fee increases, we are clearly of the view that this is not appropriate, especially when you look at the growth in traffic," a Lufthansa spokesman said on Monday. "Our goal is a cut in fees per flight."

DFS cut charges to airlines for using its services through German airspace by 11.5 percent for 2006 -- the third annual cut --, though it raised fees for the controlling of landings and take-offs at German airports by 2.6 percent.

Under current rules, DFS must repay any surplus it makes from fees after two years through appropriate reductions.

A DFS spokeswoman said on Monday a new model for charges would be introduced with privatisation.

"This model will be developed and put forward by the transport ministry," she said.

DFS plans to hold a meeting with its airline customers in Bonn on Tuesday, led by the transport ministry, to discuss charges.

The German government plans to sell a 74.9 percent stake in DFS, enabling it to raise as much as one billion euros for the federal budget. A tender for the sale is expected in the autumn.

Lufthansa is itself interested in taking a stake in the company as part of a consortium. Other companies that have said they are interested in taking part in the privatisation include Frankfurt airport operator Fraport and tourism firm TUI , whose German airlines include Hapagfly.

DFS had sales of 923 million euros in 2004, an increase of 2.5 percent despite a drop in charges. The company has not yet published figures for last year.

^^Can someone tell me if the Swiss brand will remain? Or will it be completely swallowed up by Lufthansa?
It will remain. Zurich will also remain a hub.

Has Lufthansa bought 100% of Swiss International Airline? If so, then why isn't it bigger (in terms of revenue) than Air France-KLM given that Lufthansa alone is only slightly smaller than Air France-KLM itself? :?

Swiss airline pilots union threatens strike

ZURICH, July 4 (Reuters) - Swiss pilots union Aeropers on Tuesday threatened to strike if Swiss International Air Lines, which is controlled by Germany's Lufthansa , began layoffs or diverted routes. Aeropers, one of two key pilots' unions at Swiss, said contract negotiations had ended without a conclusion on Friday, leaving members to continue working without contracts.

A strike would affect around 700 Zurich-based pilots working on 20 long-haul and 20 short-haul routes, Aeropers spokesman Beat Schneider said.

If Swiss begins to lay off pilots or shut down routes leading through Zurich, Switzerland's largest city and financial capital, the union would call a strike, Schneider said.

"We are threatening a strike in the instances that we mentioned, if Swiss lays off people and if Swiss outsources some of the production -- some of our flights," he said.

Swiss spokesman Jean-Claude Donzel said the strike threat had taken the airline by surprise and that Swiss aimed to do all it could to conclude a collective labour agreement with the union.

"We are calling for reason and a sense of responsibility from our pilots union," Donzel said by telephone. "As before, we will make use of all the leeway we have available. The important thing of course is that air traffic continue unhindered."

Lufthansa Lags Other European Carriers In June
By George Frey Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
11 July 2006

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) said Tuesday the company saw a slight rise in passenger numbers in June, partly due to Germany hosting the World Cup of soccer, but its shares fell nearly 4% as it still lagged European rivals.

Lufthansa carried 4.8 million passengers in June, a 2.6% rise on the year, while its passenger load factor
- a measure of how full airplanes are - rose 2 percentage points to 78%. The airline's revenue-passenger kilometers however, fell 0.5% to 9.8 million. Revenue-passenger kilometers indicate how far passengers are flown.

Lufthansa said the Asia-Pacific region showed the highest growth rates, with a 6% increase in the number of passengers to 331,000 and a passenger load factor of 80.8%. In Europe, Lufthansa's passenger numbers were up 3.1% to 3.7 million with a passenger load factor of 68.9%.

Lufthansa also said the company's cargo division transported around 149,000 tons of freight and mail, which is a 2.2% increase from the year ago period.
Lufthansa Cargo scaled back its capacity for the month of June by 1.4%. The company said its highest growth rates for the cargo division also came from the Asia-Pacific region.

However, given that Lufthansa was expected to carry more passengers to and from Germany due to the soccer World Cup in June, the figures were deemed disappointing by analysts.

"I can't see a reason to be excited about these numbers," said Per-Ola Hellgren at Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz. "In March, April and May, Lufthansa had better traffic numbers, and June was supposed to be the soccer month."

Hellgren noted that Air France-KLM (3112.FR) and British Airways (BAB) in comparison had much stronger passenger data in June, but indicated Lufthansa's traffic could improve markedly in July as people begin the holidays they postponed as a result of staying home to watch the World Cup. He rates Lufthansa at market perfomer with a target of EUR17.

"Overall, Lufthansa (LHA.XE) traffic figures for June look positive," said Frank Skodzik of West LB, despite an only minor increase in the passenger load factor for the month. "We'll see how they've done on pricing when they report on their first half, but at present, I see no sign of weakness and no sign for concern,"
Skodzik said. He rates Lufthansa at add with a target of EUR16.

At 1450 GMT, Lufthansa was trading down 3.7% at EUR14.30.

"Lufthansa was the World Cup airline," said Lufthansa spokesman Michael Goentgens, defending the company's performance.

"We're expecting a total of 200,000 added passengers due to the World Cup, some of which will be booked in July's traffic figures," Goentgens said.

The World Cup ran from June 9 to July 9.

The airline has never had such a high load factor, or so many passengers during the month of June, Goentgens said. Lufthansa was the official airline for the German national team, and also provided flights for many of the other teams which played in the tournament. Lufthansa predicted in early June that the Cup would add 200,000 customers to June and July traffic results. On Monday, for example, a specially scheduled Lufthansa flight took nearly 400 Brazilian soccer fans from Berlin to Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Lufthansa's traffic increases for June mark a trend in the industry, where other European airlines have shown more positive developments in their traffic.

Last week, both AirFrance-KLM (3112.FR), and Scandinavia's SAS (SAS.SK) said their revenue passenger kilometer figures for the month of June increased over 7%, while easyJet PLC, (EZJ.LN) said it saw a 15.6% jump in the number of passengers carried to 2.99 million during the month.

British Airways and Irish budget carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY) also posted solid June traffic.

Lufthansa Cargo mulls options for fleet renewal

FRANKFURT, July 13 (Reuters) - German freight carrier Lufthansa Cargo is weighing up replacements for its MD-11 aircraft and plans to make a decision on the future shape of its fleet next year, one of its board members said.

"We are thinking about how we want to be in the future in terms of fleet," Karl-Heinz Koepfle said at a media event at Frankfurt airport late on Wednesday. "In 2007, we must have reached a decision."

European planemaker Airbus has approached Lufthansa Cargo about a converted freighter version of its four-engine A340 long-haul aircraft, which is under pressure from rival Boeing's 777 and planned 787 models, Koepfle said.

He said it was too early to comment on that possibility, though he reiterated Lufthansa Cargo's view that the freighter version of the Airbus A380 superjumbo was "unsuitable".

Koepfle said the Boeing 777 freighter as well as the freighter model of its newest version of the 747 jumbo, the 747-8, were among the options Lufthansa Cargo was looking at.

Lufthansa Cargo currently operates a fleet of 19 MD-11 aircraft, as well as using the belly capacity of Deutsche Lufthansa group's passenger planes.

Swiss airline reaches contract deal with pilots

GENEVA, July 22 (Reuters) - Swiss International Air Lines, controlled by Germany's Lufthansa , has reached an outline contract deal with a pilots' union that had been threatening to strike, it said on Saturday.

"Swiss and the Aeropers pilots' union agreed on the principles of a new and forward-looking collective labour agreement," the company said in a statement.

Neither the company nor the union would give further details of the accord, which will take effect on Nov. 1, 2006, until union members had had time to review the proposal, it added.

Aeropers, one of two key pilots' unions at Swiss, warned of possible strikes after contract negotiations broke down earlier this month.

Any strike would have affected around 700 Zurich-based pilots working on 20 long-haul and 20 short-haul routes.

Lufthansa raises forecasts after positive second quarter

FRANKFURT, July 27, 2006 (AFP) - German airline Lufthansa raised on Thursday its full-year operating forecast after second-quarter results that exceeded expectations despite spiralling fuel costs which are hitting the entire airline sector.

Lufthansa believes yearly operating profits will now exceed last year's level of 577 million euros (727 million dollars), having said previously they would fall short of that figure.

The second-quarter results showed a 57.75 percent year-on-year rise, to 183 million euros.

Lufthansa boss Wolfgang Mayrhuber said: "Raising profits by almost 40 million euros despite the high price of fuel shows Lufthansa's strength. "We are seeing progress and potential in all sectors."

The results were boosted by the recovering fortunes of Swiss, which was in profit for the first time since Lufthansa bought it last year.

Germany's Lufthansa says foreign ownership exceeds 40 percent
3 August 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - German airline Lufthansa said Thursday that foreign investors now hold more than 40 percent of its stock, but added that it saw no risk of "excessive foreign control" and would not launch a share buyback.

Lufthansa said that, as of Thursday, nearly 40.3 percent of shareholders were individuals or companies based outside Germany.

The airline said that, to retain its operating license under European law and rights to fly to destinations outside Europe, the proportion of foreign shareholders must not exceed 50 percent.

Once the total reaches 40 percent, it added, German law allows a company to buy back its shares "to prevent imminent excessive foreign control."

"Lufthansa does not currently see a threat of excessive foreign control, however, and continues to place its confidence in the self-regulation of the capital market," the company said in a statement. It did not specify where the foreign investors were from.

Lufthansa shares were down 0.8 percent at €14.77 (US$18.92) in Frankfurt trading.

Lufthansa to receive first A380 superjumbo with several months' delay

FRANKFURT, Sept 5, 2006 (AFP) - German flag carrier Lufthansa is to take delivery of its first A380 superjumbo jet from European aircraft maker Airbus with several months' delay "in summer 2008," a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

Originally, Lufthansa had been scheduled to take delivery of the first of a total 15 A380 jets in autumn 2007.

But then an initial delay set back the delivery date to the beginning of 2008.

"We're in close negotiations with Airbus. But they haven't given us any more details on the delivery timetable so far," the spokesman said.

Lufthansa would still be the first European airline to have an A380 in service, he added.

Lufthansa says Aug passenger numbers up 3.5 pct

FRANKFURT, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa said on Monday the number of passengers in August rose 3.5 percent, boosted by European and Asia/Pacific travel.

Passenger traffic, measured as revenue pax-kilometre, dipped 0.9 percent.

The passenger load factor, which measures the amount of available capacity filled, fell 1.1 percentage points to 76.5 percent, Lufthansa said.

The amount of cargo and post carried in August rose 6.5 percent to 146,000 tonnes, Lufthansa added.

German airline Lufthansa to pay US$85M to settle lawsuits alleging cargo industry price-fixing
11 September 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said late Monday it would pay US$85 million (€67 million) to settle pending class-action lawsuits in the U.S. that claimed it colluded to fix prices charged for hauling cargo.

The company said the settlement is subject to court approval and, pending approval, the Cologne-based airline, along with Swiss International Air Lines Ltd., would be released from the pending class actions.

Lufthansa said it has applied for leniency with the U.S. Department of Justice, the EU Commission for conditional immunity.

In February, more than a dozen airlines were drawn into an investigation by U.S. and European Union officials of suspected collusion in the air cargo industry to fix prices on surcharges for fuel, security and insurance.

European and U.S. officials refused to provide details about the probe. But one of the airlines targeted, SAS AB's SAS Cargo in Copenhagen, Denmark, said the EU alleged that cooperation among airlines began in 2000 and involved agreements about surcharges imposed by airlines to offset certain external costs.

SAS said the costs included surcharges on fuel, added security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and premiums for war-risk insurance after the start of the war in Iraq.

Shares of Lufthansa rose 1.3 percent to close at €15.51 (US$19.66) in Frankfurt trading.

Lufthansa to leave some business class seats empty

FRANKFURT, Sept 22 (Reuters) - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa plans to keep some business-class seats empty on all European flights to attract customers by offering more room, the carrier said on Friday.

Passengers will find the neighbouring seat on all Lufthansa regional flights on domestic and European routes will be kept free in business class from the end of October, when the winter timetable begins.

The service would be unique in Europe, said Lufthansa, which has already been leaving the middle seats free in business class on short- and medium-range aircraft at its main passenger airline since 2004.

The empty-seat strategy will be expanded to business class on "Lufthansa Regional" flights, which include Air Dolomiti, Augsburg Airways, Lufthansa CityLine, Contact Air and Eurowings services.

Business passengers willing to pay more for in-flight frills and convenient flying times are key to profitability at the airline, but Lufthansa hopes leaving a portion of business seats empty rather than trying to fill its planes completely will give it an advantage over competitors.

"Obviously it makes economic sense, otherwise we wouldn't be doing it," said a Lufthansa spokeswoman. "It is an advantage in terms of quality."

Lufthansa could get Swiss CEO on mgmt board -paper

FRANKFURT, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Lufthansa may be planning to expand its management board to include Swiss International Air Lines chief Christoph Franz, the Boersen Zeitung reported, quoting sources close to the company.

In an article to be published on Saturday, the newspaper said Franz could lead Lufthansa's passenger business, which is currently headed by Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Mayrhuber.

The newspaper added that Lufthansa's supervisory board is also interested in discussing the matter at a meeting at the end of November.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman said she would not comment on either the supervisory board meeting or the personnel speculation.

Mayrhuber's contract runs until 2010.

Lufthansa unveils rise in sales, upbeat forecast for 2006

BERLIN, Oct 25, 2006 (AFP) - German airline Lufthansa reported Wednesday a 13-percent rise in sales in the first nine months of the year and gave an upbeat assessment for its full-year results.

The Frankfurt-based company said sales had reached 15.0 billion euros, up from 13.3 billion euros in the equivalent period of last year, with net profit slightly down at 414 million euros from 416 million euros.

Lufthansa noted that the net profit figure for last year included one-off gains, notably regarding the valuation of Swiss International Air Lines in its accounts.

For the full year, Lufthansa said that its operating profit in 2006 as a whole would be about 750 million euros compared with 691 million euros last year.

Previously, the group had said it only expected to exceed last year's figure without being specific.

For the first nine months, Lufthansa reported an operating profit of 691 million euros, 67 percent higher than the 471 million euros for the same period last year.

The group will give more detailed results on Thursday.

Germany's Lufthansa says October passenger numbers up 6.6 percent
9 November 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - More passengers flying to destinations in Europe helped airline Lufthansa AG post a 6.6 percent increase in passengers during October, the company said Thursday.

The German airline said it carried nearly 5 million passengers worldwide last month.

The highest growth came in Europe and Asia as passengers took advantage of lower fares to visit destinations in Lufthansa's home markets and around the Pacific Rim.

Traffic to European destinations was up 7.8 percent as capacity, or flights available, rose 2.8 percent.

Flights to Asia and the Pacific saw a 7.9 percent increase in passengers with capacity up 3.4 percent.

But traffic to the Americas region, which includes the U.S., fell by 3.2 percent after increases in trans-Atlantic fares.

The number of passengers flying to and from the Middle East and Africa was down 2.6 percent.

Shares of Lufthansa rose 0.8 percent to euro18.68 (US$23.87) in Frankfurt trading.

Lufthansa union eyes staff pay rise as profits grow

FRANKFURT, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Verdi union is demanding that German airline Deutsche Lufthansa give staff a 5.8 percent pay rise, as the carrier continues to increase profits, helped by cost cuts.

Pay negotiations, for about 42,000 ground and cabin staff, will begin on Dec. 13, Verdi said on Friday. Lufthansa declined to comment.

"Lufthansa is on course to achieve a very good profit this year and is on a clear growth path. That is first and foremost down to the workers," Verdi board member Jan Kahmann said. "They must have an appropriate share in this economic success." Lufthansa said on Oct. 25 that it expected its operating result to rise 30 percent to some 750 million euros ($992.9 million) this year after earnings in the first nine months of 2006 increased 47 percent to 691 million euros.

The airline is also targeting an annual profit of 1 billion euros by 2008, though Morgan Stanley said it expected Lufthansa to achieve a result of 1.35 billion euros in 2007, helping drive Lufthansa shares up more than 5 percent on Friday.

27 new long-haul aircrafts

Lufthansa expands and modernises long-range fleet
Supervisory Board approves orders for 27 new aircraft

06.12.06
At its meeting today, the Lufthansa Supervisory Board approved orders for a total of 27 new aircraft. Twenty of those orders are for new long-range Boeing 747-8 jets, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2010. A further seven Airbus A340-600 long-haul aircraft will be joining the fleet from 2008. Lufthansa has also taken out options on a further twenty of the B747-8 type. With the order placements, Lufthansa is underpinning its planned growth in intercontinental traffic and, simultaneously, replacing some of the existing aircraft in the fleet.

“With aircraft types in the B747 series from Boeing, on the one hand, and others from the A330/A340/A380 family from Airbus, on the other, Lufthansa is ideally equipped to strengthen and expand its leading position in intercontinental traffic,“ said Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The orders reflect Lufthansa’s growth and profitability targets. “By modernising the fleet, the new aircraft will bring further gains in efficiency as well as reduce fuel and operating costs. Both aircraft types are sustainable investments in ecological efficiency and add greater weight to Lufthansa’s active commitment to environmental protection,“ said Mayrhuber. And he emphasised: “Today’s decision on the fleet underscores Lufthansa’s clear commitment to customer orientation and profitable growth as well as the deep sense of responsibility it brings to bear on environmental issues and sustainability. With these new aircraft we will reduce emissions lastingly by 20 per cent compared with earlier models.“

Only profitable and sound companies are today in a position to invest in modern, fuel-saving, quiet and thereby environmentally friendly and economical long-haul aircraft for their customers. “Lufthansa is modernising, Lufthansa is growing and Lufthansa investing in further progress and a successful future,“ Wolfgang Mayrhuber emphasised. A modern and well-structured fleet forms the backbone of a service and market-driven airline.

Wolfgang Mayrhuber continued: “With the orders for the highly modern B747-8, Lufthansa is setting standards. The Boeing B747-8 is more than just a derivative of the successful Boeing B747 series.“ The airline will be the world’s first carrier to operate services with the new wide-body – the longest passenger jet in the world. In the Lufthansa configuration, the B747-8 will be capable of carrying around 400 passengers. “The B747-8 underlines our strategy of graded market-specific services and capacity expansion. It fits perfectly in our intercontinental fleet structure and slots neatly capacity-wise between the A380 with around 550 seats and the A340-600 with around 300 seats.“

Integration of this plane in the fleet highlights Lufthansa’s role as an innovation driver. “Lufthansa is an important partner for Boeing. The airline will play a critical role in helping us shape the future of the 747," said Scott Carson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "We are thrilled Lufthansa has chosen the 747-8 Intercontinental to be an integral part of their young and environmentally friendly fleet."

Lufthansa is equipping the 20 B747-8s with new General Electric GEnx-2B67 powerplants. "The GEnx engines incorporate advanced, proven technologies from our highly successful GE90 engines as well as new innovation from GE's ongoing research and development programs," said Tom Brisken, General Manager of the GEnx program. "These advancements provide customers with improved fuel efficiency and reductions in emissions and noise and engine weight, and a lower cost of ownership." The new B747-8 will burn an average of around 3.5 litres to fly one passenger 100 kilometres, setting new standards in fuel efficiency.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG
Corporate Communications

great news :cheers:

Lufthansa says November passenger traffic up 6.6 pct

FRANKFURT, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa said November passenger traffic increased 6.6 percent, boosted by growth in all regions.

The passenger load factor, which measures the amount of available capacity filled, rose 1.5 percentage points to 74.5 percent, Lufthansa said on Monday.

"The capacity utilisation was up in all traffic regions," Lufthansa said in a statement. "The Middle East/Africa traffic region also reported positive figures, bucking the previous trend for the year."

European and domestic traffic rose 10 percent from the year-earlier month for a year-to-date gain of 7.8 percent, making it the best performing region this year.

Middle East/Africa traffic jumped 9.4 percent last month, more than filling a 7.5 percent increase in capacity, though it was down 2.4 percent in the first 11 months of the year.

Americas traffic also fell in the year to date, down 3.6 percent, though it was up 4 percent in November.

Asia/Pacific traffic rose 5.9 percent in November for a year-to-date gain of 4.4 percent.

The total amount of cargo and post carried in November rose 2.5 percent to 159,000 tonnes, Lufthansa added.

Shares in Lufthansa were 0.1 percent lower at 20.01 euros by 1352 GMT, underperforming a 0.5 percent rise on the German blue-chip DAX index <.GDAXI>.

UK rival British Airways posted a 0.8 percent drop in passenger traffic for November in the aftermath of new security rules and a dip in transatlantic business.

Europe's biggest airline, Air France KLM , reported a 4.1 percent rise in passenger traffic last month.

Lufthansa to hire 3,000 new staffers in 2007 with most of them in Germany
2 January 2007

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Airline Lufthansa AG said Tuesday it would hire 3,000 new workers in 2007, most of them in its home market of Germany.

A spokesman confirmed a report in the Bild newspaper that the company was seeking about 3,000 employees, including 1,200 cabin crew, 800 ground staff and 240 trainee pilots.

About 2,000 of the jobs are at its main hubs of Frankfurt and Munich, the paper said in a report released before its publication Wednesday.

Air transport remains a "real job motor for Germany," Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber was quoted as saying.

"For that to continue, the infrastructure at German airports must improve urgently, otherwise the new jobs will be in Dubai or somewhere else," Mayrhuber said.

Lufthansa has reported higher passenger numbers in recent months and is forecasting higher underlying earnings for 2006, even as rising fuel costs eat into its bottom line.

Lufthansa employed 92,305 people at the end of 2005. A spokesman was unable to provide a more recent figure.

Shares in Lufthansa closed 1.2 percent higher at 21.09 euros ($27.82) Tuesday on the Frankfurt stock exchange.

Political concerns blighted Swissair strategy: ex-director

GENEVA, Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) - The airline Swissair pursued a controversial and costly acquisitions strategy after other options were ruled out on political grounds, a former Swissair director said Thursday at the trial into Switzerland's biggest corporate collapse.

Thomas Schmidheiny, a Swiss industrialist and former board member of SAirGroup, the airline's parent company, on Wednesday broke the silence observed by some of his fellow defendants in the trial so far.

Swissair's sudden grounding in October 2001 under some 17 billion Swiss francs (11 billion euros, 14.2 billion dollars) of debt left hundreds of passengers stranded around the world and small shareholders in ruin as it slid into bankruptcy.

Schmidheiny told the court at Buelach near Zurich that the board had considered a merger with Scandinavian airline SAS, KLM of the Netherlands and Austria's AUA in the early 1990s, but the plan was rejected by the Swiss government.

Swiss authorities were minority shareholders in the private company.

The board also discounted a sale of the airline, a national icon, because it felt the political obstacles were too great, he said in testimony reported by the Swiss news agency SDA.

As a result, Swissair pursued its so-called "hunter" strategy of buying up stakes in other airlines abroad, Schmidheiny explained.

That strategy, combined with the slump in air travel in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States, has been blamed for driving the company to ruin.

Schmidheiny told the court on Thursday that the SAirGroup board had very carefully examined the potential risks of the acquisitions strategy, which involved ten other carriers.

He revealed that the board had turned down management's proposals to take stakes in more airlines, such as the Italian flag carrier Alitalia, Turkish Airlines and China Eastern.

Schmidheiny is the first defendant to answer the judge's questions directly since the trial opened on Tuesday, ending what the Swiss press have dubbed the mafia-like 'omerta' or code of silence among those in the dock.

The four other former board members who have appeared before the court exercised their right to silence, shedding no light on how the national flag carrier ran into financial trouble so swiftly.

Fourteen more former directors, executives and consultants, including leading figures of the Swiss business establishment, are due to be appear in court on charges relating to mismanagement.

Schmidheiny said the board knew full well the scale of the task it had set itself, and that transforming Swissair into a private company "wouldn't be a stroll in the park".

Schmidheiny is a former chief of Holcim, one of the world's largest cement companies, where he currently holds a seat on the board.

Lufthansa says offers pay rise to staff

FRANKFURT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa has offered a 2.3 percent pay rise, a 200-euro one-off payment and continued profit sharing in wage talks for ground and cabin personnel, it said on Thursday.

A Lufthansa spokesman said the airline had put forward an offer package to the Verdi trade union, which is negotiating on behalf of 42,000 ground and cabin staff.

Lufthansa says night flight ban risks 7,000 jobs

FRANKFURT, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber sees more than 7,000 jobs in danger if night flights are banned at Frankfurt airport, he told journalists at an event on Monday.

A ban on takeoffs and landings between 23.00 and 05.00 local time at Europe's third-biggest hub would have massive consequences for the airline, especially its cargo division, he said.

German airport operator Fraport hopes to open a fourth runway at Frankfurt as early as 2010. The government of the state of Hessen has assured people living near the airport night flights would be banned if a new landing strip was built.

Lufthansa did not want to leave its main base at Frankfurt, but the traffic would have to be handled at a different location in the case of a total ban on night flights, Mayrhuber said, leaving open whether this meant within Germany or abroad.

"We have no interest in emigrating from here," Mayrhuber said. The company was ready for a compromise, he said.

Lufthansa has 35,000 staff in the region. If the carrier partly leaves Frankfurt the whole expansion of the airport would be in danger as Lufthansa and its partners account for about two thirds of the airport's business, Mayrhuber said.

Lufthansa goes looking for a few more good pilots
12 February 2007

BERLIN (AP) - German airline Lufthansa said Monday it will more than double the number of pilots it trains, in response to good future business prospects and a worldwide shortage of pilots.

Carl Siegel, head of Lufthansa's passenger division, said during a visit to the airline's pilot training facility in Bremen that the center would increase admission numbers to the school from the 180 enrolled during 2006 to 350 annually starting this year.

More than 800 applications have been submitted already this year, but Siegel expressed fears that -- with the school's 8 percent acceptance rate -- the airline still will not be able to match its growing need.

The airline industry worldwide is estimated to need 40,000 new pilots in the coming years.

"No one knows where they are going to come from," said Siegel.

Lufthansa currently employs more than 4,000 pilots.

A shrinking population, insufficient training in physics and mathematics, and long hours away from home are blamed for the shortage of applicants.

Lufthansa has changed its policies in the last few months to allow for hiring pilots educated at other flight schools.

Germany's Lufthansa reports strong growth in 2006 earnings
19 February 2007

BERLIN (AP) - German airline Lufthansa said Monday that its earnings grew strongly in 2006 as passenger numbers increased.

Lufthansa said preliminary figures showed that its net profit for the full year increased to around 800 million euros ($1.05 billion) -- a 77 percent gain.

The company said it expected revenue to grow to 19.8 billion euros ($26 billion) from 18.1 billion euros.

Operating profit grew to some 845 million euros ($1.1 billion) from 577 million euros. The Cologne-based airline, Germany's biggest, said in a statement that "the positive development in earnings continued in the fourth quarter," but did not give figures for the October-December period.

Lufthansa said last month that passenger numbers grew by 4.2 percent in 2006, with the airline carrying a record number of 53.4 million passengers.

The company said further information on 2006 earnings would be published on March 8.

Lufthansa offers to collect climate friendly fees

FRANKFURT, Feb 24 (Reuters) - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said on Saturday it was studying plans for the collection of a voluntary climate protection fee from passengers in a bid to fight global warming.

"We want to make our customers a voluntary offer for climate-neutral travel," said a company spokesman, confirming a report in Spiegel magazine due to appear on Feb. 26.

He said plans for the scheme were still sketchy but could be turned into action later this year.

They entailed the collection of voluntary supplements which would be handed over directly to climate protection projects in developing and emerging countries, but those still needed to be identified.

The size of the supplement was not yet clear, the spokesman said, describing the 68 euros for a Frankfurt-New York-Frankfurt trip, which the Spiegel report mentioned, as only a sample calculation by the magazine.

Germany's aviation industry has only recently warmed to the idea of possibly joining carbon dioxide emissions trading schemes which so far focus on energy producers, aligning itself with demands from Brussels and Germany's transport ministry.

Lufthansa, Germany's market leader, still remains sceptical and says a worldwide solution for the industry is necessary.

Emissions trading sets commercial incentives on carbon avoidance, which would be in contrast to emissions taxation models.

Lufthansa eyes better margins than European rivals

FRANKFURT, April 26 (Reuters) - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said on Thursday it wanted to overtake the profitability of its European rivals after posting a first-quarter profit for the first time in four years.

Lufthansa also said it now had sufficient finances at its disposal to buy any attractive takeover target.

"We are not happy with our profitability. We want to be in the top spot among network carriers. We want to achieve a higher margin than the competition," finance chief Stephan Gemkow told journalists on a conference call.

The carrier was discussing steps needed to boost its margins and by the summer it would give details of planned measures for increasing them from 4.3 percent last year, up from 3.2 percent in 2005.

Lufthansa stacks up against European rivals British Airways (BA) and Air France KLM . BA has said it is on track for a 10 percent operating margin in 2007/08, up from 7.5 percent in the six months to Sept. 30.

"It is about working with moving targets," Gemkow said, adding that he did not necessarily plan to overtake BA in the next year.

Lufthansa is benefiting from traffic growth in Europe and high demand for premium travel on its long-haul services. It has no plans to lower surcharges on passengers that were imposed to offset high fuel costs.

ON TARGET

The airline reiterated that it would reach its 1 billion euro ($1.36 billion) operating earnings goal in 2007, a year early. On Wednesday it posted a first-quarter profit for the first time after four years, helped by record passenger numbers.

"If the current positive framework conditions remain intact, then we will already succeed in achieving this figure in 2007," Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said in a statement.

Lufthansa said all indicators pointed to a continuing upswing in the airline industry.

It said its operating result would be further improved by the full consolidation of airline unit Swiss, expected in the third quarter. The Swiss carrier achieved an operating profit of 36 million euros in the first three months of this year, compared with a year-earlier loss of 75 million.

Lufthansa said a 499 million-euro gain on the sale of its 50 percent stake in tourism firm Thomas Cook to joint venture partner KarstadtQuelle and the contribution from Swiss helped it to a first-quarter net profit of 554 million euros, compared to a year-ago net loss of 98 million.

Gemkow said the airline had sufficient finances at its disposal to take over "any attractive target", but said Spanish carrier Iberia remained too expensive.

BA said recently it had approached private equity firms about teaming up for a possible takeover of Iberia but would not bid alone. BA already owns 10 percent of Iberia and has first refusal rights over an additional 32 percent.

Texas Pacific Group (TPG) [TPG.UL] has made a 3.4 billion euro indicative bid for Iberia. BA is considering teaming up with TPG, Apax Partners or working with a Spanish private equity firm, a source familiar with the matter has told Reuters.

Lufthansa and D.Post plan cargo airline -source

FRANKFURT, June 26 (Reuters) - Lufthansa and Deutsche Post plan to set up a joint freight airline, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday.

Deutsche Post's DHL Express delivery business and Lufthansa's Cargo unit want to operate a fleet of cargo planes from 2009, the source said.

Germany's daily Die Welt reported earlier the companies would each hold a 50 percent stake in the operation.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman declined to comment on the report, but said Lufthansa had been cooperating with Deutsche Post, its largest customer in the freight business, in various ways -- including with DHL.

This co-operation would be developed further, the spokeswoman said.

In 2004, Lufthansa Cargo and DHL set up a cooperation deal which can be cancelled in 2009, which is also when the new cargo plane fleet is expected to be ready for operation.

The source said several issues still needed to be solved, such as the difficulty of getting the needed planes on time.

DHL is setting up its European cargo hub in Leipzig/Halle in eastern Germany, the location of the operating base of the new airline. Lufthansa would still keep its cargo business in Frankfurt, sources said.

DHL's rival Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines International [CLUX.UL] and Dubai-based airline Emirates [EMAIR.UL] had also shown interest in seeking bids for a joint cargo fleet.

If Swiss is already part of the Lufthansa group why isn't the Lufthansa group larger than KLM-Air France in terms of revenues? :?

If Swiss is already part of the Lufthansa group why isn't the Lufthansa group larger than KLM-Air France in terms of revenues? :?

I don't think the two entities are being reported together yet. According to Lufthansa's press release, the acquisition will complete next month.

http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/html/presse/pressemeldungen/index.html?c=nachrichten/app/show/en/2007/06/692/HOM&s=0

With the integration of SWISS, the Lufthansa Group will further expand its position as a leading international company. Last year, 53.4 million passengers flew with Lufthansa to 185 destinations. SWISS carried 10.5 million passengers to its current 70 destinations. Lufthansa operates a fleet of 430 aircraft, while the Swiss group currently operates services with 73 aircraft. The Lufthansa Group employs in total 101,000 people worldwide originating from 165 nations.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG will acquire all the remaining shares in Swiss International Air Lines AG. Effective 1st July 2007 Lufthansa will then own all the equity in Swiss International Air Lines AG through the Swiss-domiciled AirTrust company.

***

The fact sheet I downloaded from their website was updated as of June 21, 2007, but only has Lufthansa figures (53.4 million passengers in 2006 and 19.8 billion euros in revenues).

Does this mean that, by next year, the Lufthansa Group will be called the Lufthansa-Swiss Group? :?

Combining the number of aircraft of both the Lufthansa Group and Swiss International Airlines, this "pre-supposed" Lufthansa-Swiss Group will have 500 aircraft. :eek:

Ive heard rumors that Lufthansa is eyeing Seattle... any one have any details??

Lufthansa carries nearly 6.4 million passengers in July
9 August 2007

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - German airline Lufthansa AG said Thursday it carried nearly 6.4 million passengers in July as it included figures from its Swiss unit for the first time.

The overall passenger load factor rose as a result by 2.4 percentage points to 81.2 percent, Lufthansa said in a statement.

Lufthansa alone carried more than 5.2 million passengers, up 5.4 percent from the same the month a year earlier. The revenue passenger kilometers, or the measure of one paying passenger flown one kilometer, climbed 5.7 percent.

Swiss International Air Lines, consolidated for the first time in July, carried about 1.1 million passengers. The passenger load factor rose by 0.8 percentage points to 85.0 percent.

Lufthansa studying first-ever economy sleeper cabin
6 August 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - There is good news for the thrifty traveler. German carrier Lufthansa AG is considering introducing an economy sleeper cabin on its long-haul flights, which would for the first time offer economy-class passengers a bed rather than a seat for a far more comfortable ride.

The idea -- which would radically alter intercontinental travel -- was still in the early phases of development and the airline was conducting an online poll of its customers to gauge interest in the concept, Lufthansa spokeswoman Amelie Lorenz said Monday.

"We are going to analyze the results of the survey and then we will decide whether to proceed or not," Lorenz said. "But the first results have been very positive."

Most airlines already provide flat bed seats on their long-range routes, but only for first- and business-class customers. Economy-class passengers have had to settle for regular reclining seats during extended travel, which have been blamed for causing potentially fatal blood clots known as deep-vein thrombosis, or DVT, in susceptible individuals.

Until now, airlines have been reluctant to introduce fully reclining seats in economy class because they require more space, which reduces the number of passengers and decreases profit for the carriers.

But a computer-generated image provided by Lufthansa as part of its survey features a layout of berths stacked three-high in diagonal rows -- herringbone-style -- along the sides of the plane, and additional bunked berths in a wide central aisle.

The high-density configuration would allow the airline to accommodate sufficient numbers of passengers, but still provide them with the luxury of a good night's sleep on an overnight flight, without the US$2,000-$3,000 (euro1,450-euro2,170) price tag.

Lorenz noted that the proposed layout -- which appeared to represent the lower deck of the twin-level Airbus A380 -- was just one of those under consideration. If the airline decides to go ahead with the proposed sleeper cabin, the best option will be selected, she said.

The A380 -- the world's largest airliner -- will fly on Lufthansa's ultra-long haul flights, including those from Germany to North America, South Africa, the Far East and Australia.

If the new sleeper concept is adopted all other specifics would have to be worked out, including routing and aircraft types, how the beds would be adjusted to enable passengers to eat meals and how the cabin would be configured for take off and landing.

But Lufthansa seems ready for the challenge.

"This is part of an innovation process within our airline. It is part of our normal product development," Lorenz said in a telephone interview from Frankfurt, Germany.

Lufthansa To Expand Ops, Flights From Duesseldorf Airport
14 August 2007

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) said Tuesday it plans to expand its operations at Duesseldorf airport, including adding three new destinations to North America, from May 2008.

The investment, described by Lufthansa as "significant", means the German airline will land more, larger aircraft at the airport.

As part of its increased presence at the airport, Lufthansa will offer flights from Duesseldorf to Toronto, New York and Chicago.

The move will create 450 additional jobs in Duesseldorf, Lufthansa said.

Well done Lufthansa! :)

Lufthansa says orders 41 new Airbus airplanes

FRANKFURT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa said on Wednesday its board approved orders for 41 new airplanes, taking its total number of aircraft on order to about 170 valued at over 14 billion euros ($19.6 billion) at list prices.

The new order comprises 32 Airbus A320s and nine Airbus A330-300 planes, Lufthansa said in a statement.

Has LH any plans of new routes to South America? BOG or UIO maybe?

Lufthansa says orders 41 new Airbus airplanes

FRANKFURT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa said on Wednesday its board approved orders for 41 new airplanes, taking its total number of aircraft on order to about 170 valued at over 14 billion euros ($19.6 billion) at list prices.

The new order comprises 32 Airbus A320s and nine Airbus A330-300 planes, Lufthansa said in a statement.

The order is for themselves and Swiss (LX)
Order Breakdown
LH:
6 A319
4 A320
20 A321

LX:
2 A320
9 A333

I'm praying to see Swiss in Toronto one day. They seem to be expanding and hopefully one day will reach the same level as Swissair (although the legacy of Swissair will NEVER be achieved again)

German airline Lufthansa to boost Asian, US service

FRANKFURT, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - German airline Lufthansa will increase service to Asia and the Americas during its 2007-2008 winter season, the carrier said Friday.

Starting from October 28, Lufthansa will fly to three new destinations, Orlando in the US state of Florida, and the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi, a statement said.

The German carrier plans to increase the number of places offered on intercontinental flights by 6.5 percent, while European service would see an increase of 4.0 percent.

Lufthansa's European focus would be on eastern countries and business destinations, the statement said.

In all, the German airline expects to serve 188 destinations in 79 countries, it added.

Lufthansa to up fuel surcharge by Oct 1

FRANKFURT, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa will increase fuel surcharges in its passenger business starting Oct 1 due to rising oil and raw material prices, the company said on Tuesday.

The surcharge for long distance flights will increase by 5 euros to 67 euros ($94.32) per flight, Lufthansa said in a statement.

On domestic and European flights the fuel surcharge will increase by 2 euros to 14 euros, it said.

Lufthansa said it will continue to monitor oil prices and adjust surcharges in line with developments in the raw material markets.

The new 747 will definitely look better than the A380

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Lufthansa_747-830.jpg

Lufthansa will launch six weekly non-stop flights between Düsseldorf and Miami on 26 October 2008.

Berlin in talks with Moscow over Lufthansa cargo flights ban

BERLIN, Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) - The German foreign ministry on Wednesday said they were holding talks with Russia to resolve a dispute that has seen the airline Lufthansa banned from flying over Russia.

"We believe that we will soon be able to resolve this misunderstanding," a spokeswoman for the ministry told reporters, while declining to say what had caused the row.

Lufthansa said that Russia on Sunday "at very short notice" revoked the right of the German carrier's cargo division to fly over Russian territory, forcing the airline to reroute flights to Asia.

It confirmed that in return Russia's national carrier, Aeroflot, had been banned from landing in Germany.

"Russia's ban is causing us huge losses, because it means that we have to reroute flights to Japan, China, North Korea and Singapore. It takes a lot longer and costs a lot of money," a Lufthhansa spokesman told the online edition of Der Spiegel magazine.

"It is a political dispute and there is nothing we can do but wait for it to be resolved on a political level."

He declined to comment on reports that Russia closed its airspace after Lufthansa allegedly refused to pay overflight taxes.

The European Union has negotiated an agreement with Russia under which Moscow will phase out by 2013 taxes on all European flights to Asia that fly over Siberia.

The charges cost European airlines about 330 million euros (476 million dollars) last year, but the agreement has not been signed and cannot therefore be implemented.

Lufthansa Cargo sends 49 flights a week over Russia to Astana, Kazakhstan, which is a hub for goods destined for all of Asia.

Aeroflot normally flies to Frankfurt airport more than 30 times a week. The German newspaper "Die Welt" reported that Aeroflot had rerouted its flights to Luxembourg.

Russia to permit Lufthansa Cargo flights, but asks for landings in Siberia
2 November 2007

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Russia's government agreed Friday to let Lufthansa Cargo resume flights through its airspace to the company's hub in Kazakhstan, and implied the airline would use a Siberian airport to deliver goods to Asia.

Peter Schnecklenleitner, a spokesman for Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said the company had not received any formal notification from the Russian Transport Ministry and reiterated that landing in Siberia was not an option.

"So far, there has been no formal approval," he told The Associated Press.

In its statement, the Russian ministry said it had extended permission for the airline to fly through Russian airspace to its cargo hub in Astana, Kazakhstan, through Nov. 15.

At the same time, it added that "German aviation authorities agreed to consider a proposal that Lufthansa Cargo planes will make transit stops at Krasnojarsk airport while on their way to Southeast Asia" and would notify them about such a move by Nov. 7.

Schnecklenleitner said that Lufthansa Cargo has no plans to use the Siberian city of Krasnojarsk as a hub, given its lack of infrastructure, technology and inclement weather conditions.

He said that Russia had blocked access to its airspace starting on Oct. 28, and sent the airline a letter asking they use Siberia instead.

"We received a letter that the Russian government is expecting Lufthansa to move hubs," he said. "That's no alternative for us. It's no question."

The ban has disrupted 49 cargo flights a week, forcing them to fly around Russian airspace to Astana, Kazahkstan, the company's main cargo hub on its lucrative routes to Asia. No passenger flights have been affected.

Lufthansa Cargo is a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

The letter countered a claim this week from the Russian Transport Ministry that said Lufthansa flights had not been banned, but were not permitted because the airline's temporary license expired Oct. 27.

In Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Transport Ministry said officials were holding "intensive" talks with their Russian counterparts about the issue.

"We are in intensive discussions with the Russians on the issue," said Sabine Mehwald, adding that the problem could be resolved through bilateral discussions and exchanges and it would not be necessary to involve the European Union.

On Monday, Russian airline Aeroflot Cargo reported that its flights had been briefly banned from flying to Germany. They resumed earlier this week.

Regarding the earlier overflight ban that had been imposed on Aeroflot Cargo, Mehwald said authorities had decided to lift it as "an act of good will."

------

Associated Press writers Bagila Bukharbayeva in Moscow and Melissa Eddy in Berlin contributed to this report.

The new 747 will definitely look better than the A380

Just your opinion.

Lufthansa Denies Report On Pact With Russia On Hub Move
9 November 2007

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) late Friday denied a report in German daily Frankfurter Rundschau that said Lufthansa signed a pact with Russia in the spring this year, under which the airline had agreed to move away from its cargo hub in Astana in Kazakhstan.

"There is no legally binding agreement," a Lufthansa spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

According to the report, Lufthansa agreed to move away from Astana if similar conditions will be created at the potential new hub of Krasnojarsk or Novosibirsk, both in Siberia.

In recent weeks, Russia has demanded that Lufthansa move its cargo hub to Krasnojarsk from Astana, although the German airline has opposed the suggestion, saying technical equipment at Krasnojarsk is insufficient.

Lufthansa says passenger numbers rose in October
9 November 2007

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - German airline Lufthansa AG said Friday that passenger traffic rose 6.3 percent in October after the company boosted capacity.

The total number of passengers carried last month climbed to 5.2 million, the company said in a statement. The load factor -- or the amount passenger capacity taken up -- rose 1.9 percentage points to 77.9 percent as capacity was boosted by 3.1 percent.

"The positive traffic data is the result of excellent performance in all traffic regions," Lufthansa said.

Including its Swiss subsidiary, the company carried nearly 6.4 million passengers.

Shares of Lufthansa fell more than 1 percent to euro18.25 (US$26.77) in Frankfurt.

Lufthansa "people" have been in Glasgow this week talking to BAA regarding possible routes from Glasgow International to Germany.

Russia says Lufthansa will fly if it moves hub

MOSCOW, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Russia said the cargo unit of German airline Lufthansa can fly through its airspace until Feb. 29 if the firm commits to moving its regional hub to a Russian airport, a Transport Ministry official said on Tuesday.

"We have the intention to extend temporary permission until Feb. 29. We will extend the permission today or tomorrow," Vladimir Tasun, head of the ministry's civil aviation regulation department, told reporters.

Tasun said the extension would be granted after Lufthansa clarifies its position regarding the move of its regional hub to a Russian airport.

Tasun said Russian and German aviation authorities agreed in February 2007 that Lufthansa will move its regional hub to the Krasnoyarsk airport in Siberia from Astana in Kazakhstan.

He said a German official had promised to give a timetable for the hub relocation on Tuesday.

Russia stopped Lufthansa cargo planes from flying through its airspace at the end of October and later gave permission for flights until Nov. 15.

The firm uses Astana, its second-biggest cargo airport after Frankfurt, as a connecting point for flights to southeast Asia. In 2006, it carried out 2,542 flights to and from China, Japan, South Korea via Astana.

Lufthansa said moving the hub to Krasnoyarsk was not a realistic option because the infrastructure there did not meet necessary requirements.

"It is clear that Lufthansa is trying to negotiate better terms," Tasun said, adding that Lufthansa asked Russia to install equipment needed for landing in low visibility conditions and halve tariffs.

"The airport officials are ready to examine all conditions put forward by Lufthansa," Tasun said.

He said the modernisation of the Krasnoyarsk airport would take about one year and cost up to 500 million roubles ($20.42 million). (Reporting by Anton Doroshev; writing by Maria Kiselyova; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

It's blackmail. I can't believe that we're actually gonna give in to this crap.

It's blackmail. I can't believe that we're actually gonna give in to this crap.

Would this spark a chain reaction and force other airlines to make similar moves if they don't hub in Russia already?

Russia extends Lufthansa flyover deal for 3 months

MOSCOW, Nov 14, 2007 (AFP) - Russia's Transport Ministry announced Wednesday that it had granted a three-month extension to overflight rights for cargo planes from German airline Lufthansa.

A letter was sent to the German government stating that "given the partnership between our countries... the Russian aviation authorities are extending the flight license for Lufthansa Cargo via Astana airport until February 2008," a statement said.

The decision temporarily resolves a dispute which had briefly forced the aircraft to avoid Russian airspace on the way to Lufthansa's refuelling and freight distribution centre in Astana, capital of the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan.

Russia withdrew overflight rights for Lufthansa's freight division on October 28, saying a temporary agreement had elapsed.

The move was widely seen as a Russian bid to pressure Lufthansa to use an airport in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, on Russian territory.

Overflight row with Russia not political-Germany

BERLIN, Nov 15 (Reuters) - A disagreement over the German military's right to fly through Russian airspace was an administrative problem, not a political dispute, Germany's defence minister said on Thursday.

"This is not a political issue," Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung told Germany's ARD public television.

On Wednesday Russian air traffic controllers ordered a German military transport plane with around 200 German soldiers out of Russian airspace, forcing it to return to Germany.

The plane was bringing the soldiers to a military support base in Uzbekistan for a routine rotation in Afghanistan, where Germany is part of a NATO peacekeeping mission.

Jung said that it was merely a problem of getting administrative approval.

"Today we have the approval," he said.

German airline Lufthansa <LHAG.DE> is locked in a dispute with Russia about overflight rights for its cargo planes.

Russia stopped Lufthansa cargo planes from flying through its airspace at the end of October, saying the German carrier should move its regional cargo transit hub from Astana in Kazakhstan to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, as previously agreed.

Russia temporarily lifted the ban while the two sides try to resolve the dispute. Lufthansa has said it is willing to move its cargo hub to Russia. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

Lufthansa Pays $300M for JetBlue Stake
Thursday December 13, 5:36 pm ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Germany's biggest airline, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said Thursday it is paying $300 million for a 19 percent stake in JetBlue Airways Corp., whose stock has lost about half its value since an operational meltdown last Valentine's Day.

The move, which could be a precursor to an eventual takeover if U.S. laws are changed, comes as the euro has risen significantly against the dollar, making U.S. companies seem like bargains for European buyers.

JetBlue CEO Dave Barger, who replaced founder David Neeleman this year, said the agreement "reaffirms our belief in JetBlue's disciplined growth plan and will also improve our balance sheet and give us greater financial flexibility as we move into 2008."

JetBlue shares rose 90 cents, or 14.4 percent, to $7.15 Thursday. But that still leaves them well below where they were in February when an ice storm hit New York, leading to a series of snafus that left passengers stuck in planes on taxiways for hours and ground much of its fleet for days.

The Forest-Hills, N.Y.-based airline, which began service in 2000 as a low-cost carrier, promised to beef up its staffing and take other steps to better deal with weather and other disruptions. But those added costs came just as fuel expenses were soaring. The airline posted a first-quarter loss and tepid earnings since then. It also scaled back its expansion plans.

The cash infusion will come in handy for JetBlue, which has $433 million in current debt payable that it otherwise would have been "hard-pressed to fund from cash flow from operations or cash on hand," according to a note from William Greene, an analyst at Morgan Stanley & Co.

In a statement, Lufthansa said it would acquire about 42 million newly issued shares from the JetBlue for $7.27 per share, a 16 percent premium over Wednesday's closing price.

A Lufthansa nominee will be appointed to JetBlue's board of directors once the deal is concluded. JetBlue said the deal does not require approval from its shareholders.

The deal provides for an "operation cooperation," but the companies said no specific areas of integration of flight schedules or systems have been identified.

"This investment presents Lufthansa with a compelling opportunity to invest in the U.S. point-to-point carrier market as the industry continues to evolve," said Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber.

In a conference call with investors and analysts, Barger said the transaction was purely financial, and that no code-sharing arrangements have been discussed.

If the airlines do agree to share codes, or let passengers book tickets that make it easier to move seamlessly from one airline to another, Lufthansa will benefit more than JetBlue from the deal, said Ray Neidl, an analyst at Calyon Securities in New York, because it will give the German carrier access to more passengers for its transatlantic flights from JetBlue's hub at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

But the deal left some analysts scratching their heads.

"It's not clear to us what Lufthansa gains from such a transaction," Greene said. "It may be that Lufthansa wishes to ensure access to JFK and by taking a stake in JetBlue, Lufthansa ensures that it will have slots if the FAA reimposes (flight caps) at JFK."

JetBlue sells a single class of seat, whereas Lufthansa sells three classes, noted Bob Mann, an airline consultant in Port Washington, N.Y. Lufthansa may have a hard time convincing its first-class customers to jump from their large seats to JetBlue's economy-class seats, regardless of JetBlue perks like free DirecTV, Mann said.

"I am struggling with why this (makes sense)," Mann said.

Lufthansa already has code-sharing agreements with UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and US Airways, Mann noted. JetBlue's reservation system, meanwhile, doesn't accommodate code-sharing, he said.

But these problems could be easily fixed, Neidl argued.

A JetBlue stake also puts Lufthansa in the driver's seat for any potential longer-term takeover of JetBlue. Lufthansa is barred from such a takeover under current laws restricting foreign ownership of domestic airlines to 25 percent, but lifting that cap was a key demand of European negotiators during talks earlier this year on an "Open Skies" deal, which was reached in March.

The Bush administration proposed lifting the cap, but backed down in the face of opposition from U.S. airlines and labor unions, who feared its impact on jobs. Several members of Congress also opposed the proposal.

Barger said the companies did not discuss the possibility of an acquisition in the event the ownership restrictions were lifted.

"There was never really any dialogue about 'what if,' " said Barger, who added that the deal doesn't change JetBlue's strategy of avoiding takeovers and growing alone.

The Open Skies agreement, which is scheduled to take effect March 30, 2008, will allow airlines to fly from anywhere in Europe to the United States and vice versa. Currently, for example, London's Heathrow airport only grants access to four U.S. airlines.

But the agreement doesn't allow European Union airlines to fly between U.S. cities, giving a carrier such as Lufthansa an incentive to hook up with a U.S. airline.

Lufthansa, whose last acquisition was the airline Swiss, recently decided not to bid on Italian airline Alitalia SpA. Mayrhuber has said Lufthansa is looking for acquisition candidates.

AP Business Writer Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report. Matt Moore reported from Frankfurt, Germany.

Weird move. I guess Lufthansa is shying away from making big decisions like buying Iberia or Alitalia.

No not really, and the deeling I have is that Lufthansa is more likley to bid for Spanair, than Iberia. They are also looking to buy bmi when SMB decides to reitre, from their 30% minus one share holding, to become heathrows second largest carrier with 17% of the slots, Lufthansa isnt shying away from big decisions, they are doing what any sensible company does, try to make a profit, and protect its shareholders.

the article also has a mistake when it says 4 US carrier have access to heathrow under Bermuda 2, only two do United, and American (With Virgin atlantic and bristish, being the UK ones) until March.

Weird move. I guess Lufthansa is shying away from making big decisions like buying Iberia or Alitalia.
Not Alitalia: nobody wants it.
It's fleet is too old fashioned now.

* 10 Boeing 777-200
* 13 Boeing 767-300

* 23 Airbus A321-100
* 11 Airbus A320-200
* 12 Airbus A319-100
* 76 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 / MD-82
* 10 ATR 72
* 14 Embraer 145
* 6 Embraer 170

ANALYSIS - Lufthansa-JetBlue deal may be start of a trend
14 December 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa AG's surprise swoop for a 19 percent stake in discount U.S. carrier JetBlue Airways Corp could be the start of a large-scale ownership grab in the global airline industry.

Lufthansa's plan to invest $300 million in JetBlue establishes a bridgehead for Europe's third-largest carrier in the important New York market a few months before traffic between the U.S. and Europe is due to be liberalized.

With talk of mergers among U.S. airlines in full swing, Lufthansa's move could prompt other international carriers to secure partners in the world's largest air travel market, as competing global airline alliances tussle for key assets.

"I think we're going to see more of these deals," said Stuart Klaskin of aviation consultancy Klaskin, Kushner & Co. "I think you'll see partnerships of foreign airlines buying stakes in U.S. carriers."

NEW YORK ACCESS

New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where JetBlue has its hub and jostles for dominance alongside AMR Corp'sAmerican Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc, is a linchpin for European and other international carriers.

The airport offers access to the lucrative New York market and connections to destinations throughout the U.S. But delays have been chronic and could lead to a clamp-down on arrivals and departures.

"The primary strategic play here is JFK," said Bill Swelbar, a research engineer at MIT's International Center for Air Transportation.

"With the world's focus on JFK and slots at JFK, how that may stand in the way of international service from one of the most important points on the global map is very important," he said. "Clearly the wheels are turning in the minds of the strategists."

Lufthansa's move comes as its Star Alliance -- one of the three major global airline partnerships -- expands aggressively. Star Alliance, which vies with American Airlines' oneworld and Air France's SkyTeam, allows airlines to widen their reach through connections with partner airlines.

State-run national carrier Air India said on Thursday it would join Star Alliance, which also includes UAL Corp's United Airlines. Earlier this week, Air China and Shanghai Airlines formally joined Star Alliance, as it adds partners in key Asian markets.

To counter the expansion by Lufthansa and Star Alliance, Air France, which is already bidding for its SkyTeam partner Alitalia, might be interested in securing its partnership with Delta, even as the third-largest U.S. airline mulls its merger options.

Likewise, British Airways Plc and American Airlines could be forced into the fray.

"If I'm SkyTeam, I might be concerned about someone else making a play for Delta," said MIT's Swelbar.

"As SkyTeam and Star get stronger and stronger, can American and BA afford to sit idly by and watch the world change?" he asked. "Maybe we are looking at transformational deals here."

Aside from European carriers, airlines from the Mideast and Asia such as Singapore Airlines Ltd, Japan Airlines Corp, Qantas Airways Ltd, and Emirates may also be interested in similar deals with U.S. carriers, said Klaskin.

But U.S. regulatory approval could still hobble Lufthansa's ambitions and thwart other deals too.

"The foreign ownership rules remain a possible stumbling block," said Joe Schwieterman, transportation expert at DePaul University in Chicago. Competing airlines could pressure regulators in Washington to "drag their feet" in approving the Lufthansa investment, he said.

Lufthansa will stop Manila service from March 30 of 2008, operated as FRA-CAN-MNL with an A346, Guangzhou will become terminator destination with A343. KLM will become the only European carrier to fly into MNL.

Sad thing. We'll miss Lufthansa. Hope they will return. Thanks for the memories.

Newbie here and Happy New Year Everyone!

Just thought I would ask if there was any news from German side about Lufthansa's strong rumoured take over of BMI?

According to the pprune boards it's a pretty done deal!

http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=bmi&aje=true&id=070427000404&ct=0&page=14&nclick_check=1

what is Lufthansa's annual profit?

Lufthansa, D.Post file Frankfurt night flight lawsuits

FRANKFURT, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Airline Deutsche Lufthansa and mail and logistics group Deutsche Post are filing lawsuits over restrictions to night flights linked to the future expansion of Fraport's Frankfurt airport.

The companies joined German carriers Condor and TUIfly in taking legal action. Lufthansa has its main hub at Frankfurt, while Post's DHL division also operates from the airport.

Spokesmen for Lufthansa and Deutsche Post said on Friday the legal action related to limits set on night flights as a condition for approving the project.

Friday was the deadline for legal action against the expansion of Europe's third-biggest airport, which will include a fourth runway from 2011 and a third terminal. It won the green light from German authorities in December.

As a condition for the expansion approval, the Hesse state economy ministry said it would set a limit of 17 flights a night on average between 2300 and 0500 local time, down from 41. Night flights on the new runway would not be allowed.

Lufthansa, whose Lufthansa Cargo air freight carrier also has its base at Frankfurt and which owns almost 10 percent of Fraport, had called for permission for 41 flights a night.

Deutsche Post declined to say how many night flights DHL operated at Frankfurt. Condor, which is majority owned by tourism group Thomas Cook but being sold to Air Berlin , has described the night flight conditions as a "fatal signal" for the German air transport industry and a "bitter pill" that could harm its competitiveness.

Frankfurt airport handled some 54.2 million passengers last year, but Fraport sees that figure rising to more than 88 million in 2020 with passenger numbers growing some 3.5 percent annually.

Demand for aircraft take-offs and landings is likely to rise to about 700,000 by 2020 from 489,000 in 2006, Fraport has said. Cargo and mail tonnage carried is also seen up more than 70 percent to 3.16 million metric tonnes in 2020.

Lufthansa’s real-time booking
06-02-2008:

KUALA LUMPUR: Lufthansa has launched its real-time online booking engine for the Malaysian market, which will enable its customers to select, book and purchase tickets 24 hours a day at www.lufthansa.com.

In a statement yesterday, Lufthansa said its passengers could now select their seats when checking in using the online booking engine. The online check-in option is available 23 hours prior to flight departure.

Lufthansa operates four times weekly connecting Kuala Lumpur via Bangkok to Frankfurt, departing from Kuala Lumpur every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Russia agrees to allow Lufthansa overflights, though dispute over cargo hub unresolved
13 February 2008

BERLIN (AP) - Russia has extended airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG's permission to fly through its airspace along its cargo route to its hub in neighboring Kazakhstan, the airline said Wednesday.

The Cologne-based airline, which operates Lufthansa Cargo, has been in a dispute with Russia over the location of its hub, currently in the Kazakh capital. Russia wants the company instead to fly to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.

While the negotiations continue, the company said Russia has agreed to extend its overflight rights until the end of March. That permission had been set to expire at the end of February.

In October, Russia had halted the flights, saying the airline's permits had not been renewed and that it wanted Lufthansa Cargo fly to Krasnoyarsk.

Lufthansa objects to using Krasnoyarsk as a hub, given its lack of infrastructure, technology and inclement weather.

Lufthansa Cargo is a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

German airline says pilots averted major crash

BERLIN, March 3 (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa said on Monday its pilots had averted a crash at Hamburg airport after a strong gust of wind caused a plane, with 130 passengers on board, to veer dangerously on landing.

Amateur video footage, played repeatedly on German television, showed the Airbus A320 buffeted by crosswinds and driving rain as it landed on Saturday at Fuhlsbuettel airport near the northern German port city.

The plane approached the asphalt runway at an odd angle, then swerved sharply before touching down, with one of its wings scraping the ground. The pilots averted disaster by quickly taking off again, going into a so-called go-around manoeuvre.

"Just before landing, the plane was hit by a very strong gust of wind that led to the left wing touching the ground very briefly," said Juergen Raps, Lufthansa executive vice president of operations.

"The pilots reacted outstandingly by inducing a go-around."

No passengers or crew were injured and the plane, which had taken off from Munich, circled for about 10 minutes before landing safely on another runway.

Gale force winds caused chaos in Germany and other central European countries over the weekend, killing several people and causing power cuts as well as major travel disruption.

Flights across Germany were cancelled, diverted or delayed.

Lufthansa to build private jet fleet in summer 2008
7 March 2008

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - German flagship airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG plans to build a private jet fleet in summer 2008, a company executive said Friday.

Thierry Antinori, head of marketing and sales at Lufthansa Passage Airlines, detailed the plans while speaking at the international Travel Trade Show ITB in Berlin.

The company added that it will receive nine private jets in the coming weeks and also plans to work with partners in the private jet business.

Lufthansa saw strong demand for private jet flights in 2007. The number of private jet flights rose 26 percent in that year compared to 2006.

Lufthansa, Brussels Air to detail future together

FRANKFURT/BRUSSELS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines will give details later on Monday about their joint plans after the German carrier said in late August it wanted to buy a stake in the fledgling carrier.

SN Airholding President Viscount Etienne Davignon and Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber will hold a joint news conference at the Belgium carrier's offices at 1415 GMT, the airlines said in a statement.

"It is about our future together," a spokesman for Brussels Airlines said. A spokeswoman for Lufthansa declined to comment on the reason for the news conference.

Lufthansa said on Aug. 28 it planned to pay 65 million euros ($91 million) for a 45 percent stake in Brussels Airlines with the option to buy all of the company in two years. Brussels Airlines is 70 percent owned by Belgian companies and 30 percent by British entrepreneur Richard Branson's budget carrier, Virgin Express.

It was created in 2004 by merging Virgin Express and SN Brussels Airlines, the successor of the country's state airline Sabena.

So what id they announce?

Lufthansa On Shortlist To Buy Austrian Airlines - Source
16 September 2008

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) has been put on the shortlist to buy a stake in Austrian Airlines AG (AUA.VI), or AUA, a person familiar with the proceedings told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.

The person's comments confirm press reports that said Lufthansa as well as Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM (3112.FR) and Russian airline S7 have been invited to submit binding offers for AUA by the Austrian government's state holding company OIAG.

Press reports have also said that a non-binding bid from British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) has been turned down by OIAG.

OIAG holds a 42.75% stake in AUA for the Austrian government, which last month decided to sell its shares.

Austrian Airlines has come under increasing financial pressure from higher jet fuel costs and the downturn in the industry. At the end of the first half of 2008, it booked a net loss of EUR48.7 million and said it expects a full-year loss of between EUR70 million and EUR90 million.

Lufthansa's BMI assets should prove lucrative
By GEORGE FREY, AP Business Writer
Fri Oct 31, 1:52 pm ET

FRANKFURT, Germany – Deutsche Lufthansa AG locked up valuable takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow Airport with its decision this week to increase its stake in British Midlands. But analysts differ over how the German-based airline can unlock the value of that asset.

BMI comes with 11 percent of the takeoff and landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport, second only to British Airways PLC. Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport and those slots could position Lufthansa to take advantage of lucrative trans-Atlantic traffic.

But Germany's biggest airline won't divulge its plans for London and analysts have mixed predictions of what the company will do. The basic options: use the asset or sell it.

On the one hand, the purchase could allow Lufthansa to launch more trans-Atlantic flights from London, the busiest business destination from North America, giving it a huge revenue generator outside its domestic market.

But if that is the plan it probably will not happen soon, given economic conditions, said Hans Peter Wodniok, an analyst with Fairesearch in Frankfurt.

"The possibility is there," Wodniok said. "This is a potential threat for British Airways. Lufthansa has the potential to develop the hub in the future. It secures and strengthens Lufthansa's position and British Airways should be a bit afraid."

But Per-Ola Hellgren at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg in Mainz said the cleanest way for Lufthansa to get value out of the transaction would be to sell off BMI and the slots, which he valued at as much as 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion).

"Lufthansa will have a very valuable asset in Heathrow slots," Hellgren said.

The German airline could have a tough time building the slots up with its own flights because the company is not a household name in Britain, Hellgren said.

Claudia Lange, a Lufthansa spokeswoman, said the Cologne-based company was in discussions with BMI managers about how Lufthansa could change service in London, but said no plans would be announced until the BMI deal is finalized in 2009.

Lufthansa arranged the option — giving it 80 percent control of BMI — nearly a decade ago and announced the move Wednesday as it released third-quarter results.

Lufthansa and BMI said the German company would pay Michael Bishop, BMI's main shareholder, 400 million euros ($508 million) for his 50 percent stake, giving Lufthansa 80 percent of the company.

The remaining 20 percent of BMI is owned by Scandinavian airline SAS.

The deal comes as the European airline industry is in crisis over volatile fuel prices and falling passenger numbers. On Wednesday, Lufthansa said profit from the July through September period slumped to 149 million euros ($189.2 million) from 586 million euros a year earlier, depressed by higher fuel costs. It also cut its full-year earnings outlook, citing the economic uncertainty.

The move is one in a series of recent investments by Lufthansa.

In September, it acquired a 45-percent equity stake in Brussels Airlines with an option to buy the rest in 2011. Lufthansa said it sees Brussels operating largely as an independent company in the Lufthansa group.

That's largely the way Lufthansa has handled its acquisition of Swiss International Air Lines, which it announced it in 2005.

In late 2007, Lufthansa announced it would buy a 19 percent stake in American carrier JetBlue Airways Corp., giving it access to more North American business.

Austrian authorities said Lufthansa made a formal bid for a stake of Austrian Airlines this month. And Lufthansa is also keeping a close eye on the possibility of taking a stake in Italian carrier Alitalia.

Shares of Lufthansa were up 1.7 percent at 11 euros ($14) in late Frankfurt trading.

Please rename this thread into "Lufthansa - Swiss - Austrian Airlines". :)

Now the family is complete! :grouphug:

Next target: SAS :eat:



Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 18:40

AFP News

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Austrian Airlines to be sold to Germany's Lufthansa

Austrian Airlines will be sold to German carrier Lufthansa, the Austrian state holding company OeIAG, which has a 41.6-percent stake in the loss-making airline, announced Thursday evening.

"As of now, OeIAG will only hold concluding talks with Lufthansa," it said in a statement after a meeting of its privatisation committee.

Rival bidders "(Russia's) S7 and Air France-KLM are no longer in the bidding process," it added.

OeIAG explained that S7 had failed to submit documents that were in conformity with the EU bidding rules, while Air France-KLM had not made an offer within the allotted time.

The two companies have been informed of the holding's decision, it added.

OeIAG director Peter Michaelis said the sale price and details in the deal with Lufthansa would still be finalised in the coming weeks, but added that he expected an agreement within a month, which would allow the holding company's directors to examine the decision at their next meeting on December 5.

Among the issues to discuss are Lufthansa's reported demands that the government take over 500 million euros (638 million dollars) of AUA's debt of more than a billion euros.

Lufthansa is offering only a nominal price for OeIAG's 41.6-percent stake -- just 0.01 euro per share or 360,000 euros (445,200 dollars) in all, according to media reports.

On Thursday evening, Lufthansa refused to comment on OeIAG's decision.

At Thursday's close, AUA shares were down 0.38 percent to 2.63 euros on the Vienna stock exchange.


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source: http://www.france24.com/en/20081113-austrian-airlines-be-sold-germanys-lufthansa-holding-co-0

Booooooooooooo!! :ohno:

Lufthansa to park seven planes on slow demand

FRANKFURT, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa said on Monday it had taken four long-distance aircraft temporarily out of service and that it planned to park a further three planes to counter a drop in demand.

Four Airbus A300-600s have been grounded and three A340-300s are slated to be put out of service for an unspecified time, a company spokesman told Reuters.

The airline had earlier reported in an internal publication for employees that some aircraft would have to be grounded.

Lufthansa had warned in October that its 2009 capacity, excluding its Swiss subsidiary and new routes from the Milan-Malpensa airport, would shrink.

By VRHNA from HKADB :

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By VRHNA from HKADB :

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Lufthansa to offer 4.49 eur/share for Austrian

VIENNA, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Austria's Takeover Commission has set the price Lufthansa will offer shareholders in Austrian Airlines at 4.49 euros per share, slightly more than indicated earlier, Lufthansa's law firm said late on Monday.

In a two-step deal, Lufthansa agreed this month to buy Austrian state holding company OeIAG's 42 percent stake in AUA, and said it would take full control for up to 377 million euros ($528 million) once the European Commission approved the tie-up.

Lufthansa had said it expected to offer 4.44 euros per share for shares not owned by OeIAG. It said the Takeover Commission's calculation included more data then it had used originally.

While AUA shares have risen 34 percent since Lufthansa first announced the indicative price it would offer on Dec. 3, the bid is still 26 percent above Monday's closing price of 3.56 euros.

Lufthansa said it expected to launch the public tender for shares in the last week of February. Its bid for AUA is conditional on reaching a 75 percent stake.

Warning strikes against Germany's Lufthansa: airline
23 January 2009
Agence France Presse

Cabin crew at German flag carrier Lufthansa staged warning strikes Friday, causing delays or cancellations of 80 flights, an airline spokeswoman said.

The industrial action came between 6:15 am and 9:15 am (0515 GMT to 0815 GMT) at Frankfurt airport, continental Europe's biggest hub.

Staff stopped work to turn up the pressure on employers during wage talks in which they are demanding a 15-percent hike. Lufthansa has offered an increase of about 10 percent.

Negotiations between the union and Lufthansa broke up on January 16 without agreement.

The trade union which called the strikes, UFO, represents 8,000 of the 16,000 flight attendants at Lufthansa.

ANALYSIS-More M&A likely for Lufthansa after breather

FRANKFURT, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Lufthansa is taking a breather after its acquisition spree last year but it may not be long before Germany's largest airline is looking around for more deals.

Lufthansa set out plans to buy Brussels Airlines last September and lined up Austrian Airlines last month in moves which have slashed the number of large independent airlines in Europe.

Scandinavian airline SAS beckons as another potential target and Spain's Iberia may become available in the longer term if it fails to agree terms following merger talks with British Airways .

Lufthansa also exercised an option in November to take control of 80 percent of British carrier bmi [BMID.UL], with SAS controlling the other 20 percent.

Its future plans for the airline remain unknown, although Virgin Atlantic [VA.UL] has made no secret of its desire for a tie-up with bmi to provide a short-haul feeder network for its intercontinental routes.

However, bmi has the most landing slots at London's Heathrow, Europe's largest airport, after British Airways -- an asset Lufthansa may seek to retain.

Highlighting the wider volatility - and possible further opportunities - in the recession-hit sector, Ryanair dropped a bid for Aer Lingus in a clash with the Irish government last week.

Lufthansa and its rival Air France-KLM have been largely calling the consolidation shots in Europe recently and in doing so have made each other's lives a little harder.

In the past, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM largely limited their shopping ventures to members of their own airline alliances -- Star Alliance and SkyTeam.

"Both - Lufthansa and Air France - tap their own potential and do not challenge the other unnecessarily," said LBBW analyst Per-Ola Hellgren.

But AirFrance-KLM filed a complaint with the European Union against Lufthansa's plans to buy Austrian Airlines, and the German carrier tried to lure Alitalia , which was being pursued by AirFrance-KLM, into its own Star Alliance.

According to a media report, the French-Dutch carrier -- which issued its second profit warning in three months last week -- is retaliating by wooing SAS for its SkyTeam alliance.

Lufthansa had been in exclusive talks with SAS for several months, but eventually decided against a commitment for the time being, according to people familiar with the situation.

Analysts said closer cooperation between SAS and Lufthansa is still likely, though it may not come this year.

"A more intense alliance between Lufthansa and SAS would be a logical step," said Uwe Weinreich, an analyst at UniCredit.

"Airlines are wary of equity stakes in this environment. It is probably not to be expected this year," Weinreich added.

Lufthansa has affirmed its interest in SAS and the Scandinavian carrier has spruced itself up by disposing of its loss-making unit Spanair and by persuading unions to accept significant wage cuts for workers.

CASH IS KING

Industry experts agree that Lufthansa has the cash firepower to pursue larger acquisitions. At the end of September, it had total liquid assets of 3.4 billion euros ($4.47 billion).

Nonetheless, the company decided to defer to Air France-KLM on Alitalia while focusing on building up its own presence in industry-rich northern Italy.

In theory, Lufthansa could use its extra capacity in Milan to rival Alitalia's business on flights between Rome and Milan, the second-busiest route in the European Union after Madrid-Barcelona.

But analysts do not expect such a frontal attack by Lufthansa.

"It would be very audacious for Lufthansa to confront Air France head-on. Air France would not take that lying down and would retaliate," Hellgren said.

In the end, the two could end up fighting over rival British Airways if consolidation comes to a head.

"It is conceivable that in the coming two to three years -- if the weakness continues -- that a bidding war could erupt over British Airways," said Hellgren.

Lufthansa in 2008 carried around 57 million passengers, making it Europe's biggest airline in passenger volume terms.

In the fiscal year through the end of March 2008, Air France carried 51.7 million passengers, and BA , Europe's third-largest carrier, booked 33.1 million passengers.

BA warned on Monday that it would make an operating loss of 150 million pounds ($209 million) in the year to end-March. The company blamed the profit warning on the weak economy and the decline of the pound.

It is struggling with sliding transatlantic business travel bookings, which depend heavily on the financial sector.

And BA's plans for a merger with Iberia are under pressure as the UK company's widening pension deficit has become a stumbling block in the talks as the Spanish airline's shareholders use it to gain a bigger stake in the new group. $1=.7608 Euro) ($1=.7176 Pound)

Lufthansa sees Malpensa as possible hub in longer term

MILAN, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Lufthansa AG could make Milan's Malpensa airport part of its hub network in the longer term as it bulks up its presence in Italy, board member Karl Ulrich Garnadt said on Wednesday.

"Malpensa is the right choice for us for our build up in Italy. The possibility is there to develop the airport as a hub," Garnadt said at a presentation of Lufthansa's new Italian unit.

Lufthansa had been touted as a possible candidate to tie up with Italy's Alitalia but lost out to Air France-KLM .

Garnadt said the group is considering further network expansion in Italy and did not rule out operating a connection between Milan's Malpensa and Rome's Fiumicino airport.

The lucrative route between the country's business capital, Milan, and political capital Rome is dominated by Alitalia, which operates these flights from Milan's Linate airport -- nearer the city centre than Malpensa.

Garnadt said Lufthansa might reconsider an appeal to European Union antitrust authorities over the Linate-Rome connection.

The EU antitrust had previously rejected an appeal about this connection, but that was before Italian airline Air One joined former flagship carrier Alitalia in its alliance with Air France-KLM.

"We are investigating all the options available," he said, adding Lufthansa Italia was for business clients.

"Obviously if they gave us the Linate-Rome landing rights we would start tomorrow," he said.

Garnadt ruled out Lufthansa taking an equity stake in Milan airports' operator Sea.

Lufthansa, which already operates flights at Malpensa airport together with its Air Dolomiti unit, will launch Lufthansa Italia's first flight on Feb. 2 and by the end of March will have eight destinations and 126 flights a week.

Garnadt said the group could be interested in the slots at Malpensa that Alitalia has relinquished.

"Alitalia has reduced its capacity at Malpensa and has no intention to change its offer at the airport. This automatically releases slots," Garnadt said.

He said Lufthansa will invite its Star Alliance partners to fly into Malpensa "as a gateway into Italy".

Lufthansa strike hits Frankfurt, Berlin airports
Published: 2009/01/29

BERLIN: Dozens of flights from Berlin and Frankfurt airports were cancelled yesterday as flight attendants of German flag carrier Lufthansa staged a second warning strike over pay, the airline said.

The industrial action runs between 6.00am and 12.00 pm and has forced the cancellation of more than 40 flights to and from Frankfurt, continental Europe's biggest hub, and Berlin-Tegel airport, according to Lufthansa's website.

A spokeswoman for the airline refused to say exactly how many flights had been cancelled but flights to London, Zurich, Milan and Prague were cancelled in a 30-minute stretch from 0700 GMT, according to the Frankfurt Airport website.

Lufthansa said it was trying to limit the impact on long-haul flights but warned that delays could also be expected to these services.

Staff stopped work in a bid to ratchet up the pressure on employers during wage negotiations. The flight attendants are demanding a 15 per cent pay rise. The airline has offered 10 percent.

Talks between the union representatives and Lufthansa broke up two weeks ago without agreement.

The UFO trade union which called the strikes represents 8,000 of the 16,000 flight attendants at Lufthansa.

During last Friday's action, 44 flights were cancelled during a three-hour warning strike. - AFP

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/strike/Article

Lufthansa Keen To Buy SAS Under Right Conditions - Report
28 January 2009
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), which already has three planned acquisitions on tap, would be interested in buying SAS AB (SAS.SK) if the conditions were right, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing supervisory board chief Juergen Weber.

The newspaper said Weber is confident the company will win antitrust approval for its planned acquisitions of Brussels Airlines, BMI and Austrian Airlines. He also ruled out price reductions in order to fill seats at below cost.

Lufthansa eyes acquisitions during crisis -paper

FRANKFURT, Jan 29 (Reuters) - German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa still plans to invest in acquisitions to be ahead of the game when the global economic crisis ends, supervisory board Chairman Juergen Weber said.

"We will concentrate on Europe for now," he told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published on Thursday.

Lufthansa is currently taking a breather after an acquisition spree last year, in which it set out plans to buy Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines , cutting the number of large independent airlines in Europe.

Scandinavian airline SAS is a potential target, while Spain's Iberia could become available in the longer term if its merger talks with British Airways come to nothing.

"If the conditions are right, SAS will become interesting for us," Weber told Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Lufthansa in 2008 carried around 57 million passengers, making it Europe's biggest airline in passenger volume terms.

In the fiscal year through the end of March 2008, Air France carried 51.7 million passengers, and BA, Europe's third-largest carrier, had 33.1 million passengers.

Demand for flights has eased as companies cut back their spending on business travel. Weber said the crisis was starting to affect non-business travellers, many of whom will cancel holiday plans this year.

Around the world, airline passenger numbers are expected to slip 3 percent in 2009, more even than the 2.7 percent decline posted in 2001 after the September 11 hijacked plane attacks frightened travellers away, according to the International Air Transport Association.

"I don't even think a decline of 5 percent can be ruled out. But that would be a horror scenario," Weber said.

He said Lufthansa would absorb capacity on routes that other airlines were abandoning. Many airlines have dropped routes from their schedule or cut the frequency of some flights to ensure they fill their planes.

"Based on our strong impression that Lufthansa is able to react actively and very flexibly to weaker demand patterns during the worldwide recession, we expect lower margin erosion overall compared to its peer group," DZ Bank analyst Robert Czerwensky said in a note on Thursday.

Rival British Airways issued a profit warning on Monday, saying the British pound's weakness against the euro and other non-fuel costs would hurt its profitability this quarter.

Lufthansa in October cut its 2008 operating profit goal to 1.1 billion euros ($1.44 billion), from a previous target of about 1.38 billion euros. The company is due to report full-year results on March 11.

By Melbourne_spotter from HKADB :

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Lufthansa working hour cuts not ruled out, CEO - report

FRANKFURT, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Germany's largest airline Lufthansa can not rule out cutting working hours for more employees, although that is not planned at the moment, the flag carrier's Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said.

"As things look at the present time, this is not planned," Mayrhuber told Der Spiegel magazine, in an interview which will be published on Monday.

On Friday, Lufthansa reached an agreement with its cargo union to shorten working hours for 2,600 employees in its air freight operations.

The CEO said extending such steps to the rest of the airline "would depend naturally on further economic developments."

The German flag carrier will not ask for state help to deal with problems associated with the financial crisis, Mayrhuber said.

Mayrhuber, however, reiterated the airline industry should not be burdened with additional costs from things such as additional night flying and security restrictions or further emission costs.

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First Lufthansa Italia A319 D-AKNJ "Milano"

Lufthansa ups 2008 target amid bleak German outlook

FRANKFURT, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa raised its forecast for full-year 2008 operating profit, becoming the second European airline in as many days to say it could defy the currently tough industry environment.

The company would post full-year operating profit of around 1.3 billion euros ($1.67 billion), compared with previous expectations of 1.1 billion euros, thanks to a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter, the German flagship carrier said on Tuesday.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair raised its own full-year outlook to a profit from an earlier expected loss due to lower fuel costs, and forecast further substantial profit next year as travellers trade down in the recession.

Airlines and airport operators have been hit by fallout from the financial crisis as companies spend less on business travel and consumers tighten their purse strings. German retail sales unexpectedly fell for a third consecutive month in December.

In addition, many carriers bet on rising fuel prices in 2008 and were taken by surprise when oil prices fell from an all-time high of over $145 per barrel to around $40 now. Airlines commonly hedge their exposure to fuel months in advance.

Lufthansa, however, which had to cancel dozens of flights due to cabin crew strikes and a technical glitch, said lower fuel prices and favourable valuation effects offset a slowdown in demand. It is due to report 2008 results on March 11.

The company's shares reversed earlier losses after the news and rose 6.0 percent to 9.956 euros by 1246 GMT, while the German blue-chip DAX index <.GDAXI> was up 0.3 percent.

"Lufthansa was able to beat market assumptions and outperformed main competitors with already reduced profit targets like Air France-KLM and British Airways," said DZ Bank analyst Robert Czerwensky in a note.

Air France-KLM and British Airways , Lufthansa's most formidable rivals in Europe, have both issued profit warnings in the past two weeks.

And despite its raised outlook, Lufthansa said its business carried a higher risk than usual going forward as the market environment has developed poorly with low overall demand.

German airlines' association BDF earlier said it cut its full-year 2009 outlook for passenger numbers in the country's aviation industry to a drop of 5 percent from 3 percent following a sharp slump in January.

Airport operator Fraport expects its main Frankfurt airport, Germany's biggest, served around 6 percent fewer passengers in January than in the year-earlier period.

Nonetheless, the German market is still attracting investors. NetJets, a plane-sharing company owned by investor Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc , agreed to buy German airport Frankfurt Egelsbach for an undisclosed sum.

The airport, located about 17 kilometres south of Frankfurt, caters to small jets helicopters and twin-engine planes. ($1=.7776 Euro)

Lufthansa gives bleak outlook for non-airline units

FRANKFURT, March 6 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa expects its cargo and maintenance businesses to continue feeling the impact of the global economic crisis until at least 2010, reports in company employee newspapers.

The company has taken two MD-11 cargo planes out of service as part of a plan to cut capacity by 20 percent, the Lufthanseat newspaper reported this week. The company had already said it would shorten working hours for cargo employees.

A spokesman for the company said the two planes would remain grounded until October 2010. Another two cargo planes are currently not being used but have not been taken out of service.

Engine maintenance business Lufthansa Technik expects to see its industry environment remain difficult until the end of 2010, the division's sales head Walter Heerdt told employee newspaper Lufthansa Technik News.

In the first nine months of 2008, the cargo division generated about 16 percent of Lufthansa's group operating profit, and Lufthansa Technik contributed 23 percent. Lufthansa is scheduled to publish full-year 2008 results on Wednesday.

Airlines around the world have cut capacity and grounded aircraft in response to a drop in demand for air travel. Businesses are reducing their travel budgets and consumers are also keeping a tighter hold of their purse strings.

"Older aircraft or those needing an overhaul are taken out of service first," Heerdt said.

He said that from 2011, there would be slight market growth, though the impact of the crisis would still be felt for several years.

Lufthansa Technik is the world's third-largest company offering engine maintenance, repairs and overhauls, with a market share of around 8 percent, according to 2007 figures published by rival MTU Aero Engines .

To generate new business, the company planned to expand in the Middle East and Africa.

Lufthansa Cargo CEO sees tough 2009

FRANKFURT, March 19 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa's cargo division expects to face a tough 2009 as the slump in demand for freight services -- a bellwether of global trade activity -- persists, the division's chief executive said.

"The 2009 business year will confront Lufthansa Cargo with the biggest challenge for many years," Carsten Spohr told a news conference on Thursday.

Air cargo companies have been buffeted by spending curbs by businesses looking for ways to weather the global economic crisis. Airport industry body ACI said in January air cargo traffic was likely to continue weakening in the next six months.

A third of world trade is in goods sent by air, so the dramatic decline in air cargo volumes around the world paints a gloomy picture for the broader global economy.

Few regions had managed to avoid the impact of the crisis, with only Africa remaining stable for the moment, Spohr said. The Asia/Pacific traffic region was among the worst hit, and the industry's volumes in China had dropped up to 50 percent.

"This is truly a global crisis," he said.

Any regions with exposure to the automotive and high-tech industries were affected, while shipments of pharmaceuticals and high-value goods like cash and jewellery were still growing.

No reversal to this downward trend was in sight, Spohr said. Freight volumes at Lufthansa fell 24.5 percent in February after a 24.3 percent slump in January.

To offset weak demand, Lufthansa has already cut working hours for pilots and ground crews in its cargo division and has taken four cargo aircraft out of service.

Chief Financial Officer Roland Busch said on Thursday he could not rule out that the cargo business could expand shortened working hours and ground further planes.

Lufthansa Cargo's full-year revenue would fall noticeably from the 2.91 billion euros ($3.93 billion) posted in 2008, and operating profit would be well below the year-earlier level of 164 million euros, Spohr said.

Shares of Lufthansa were 2.5 percent higher at 8.47 euros by 1045 GMT, while the German blue-chip DAX index <.GDAXI> was up 0.9 percent.

German airline Lufthansa 1st quarter passenger numbers fall 7 percent
9 April 2009

BERLIN (AP) - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Thursday its passenger levels fell 7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier as the world economic crisis cut into demand.

Cologne-based Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, said it transported 12 million passengers in the January-March period. The airline said it reduced capacity -- or the available seats -- by 3.3 percent during the period to adjust to the lower demand.

Including subsidiary Swiss International Airlines, the company saw 15 million passengers for the period, a 6 percent decline.

Lufthansa said its cargo division also saw a significant 23 percent decline in cargo volumes during the first quarter, to 328,000 metric tons.

For the month of March alone, Lufthansa said group passenger levels fell about 3 percent to 5.59 million from 5.74 million in March of 2008.

Cargo volume fell 20 percent to 123,000 metric tons in March 2009 compared with 154,000 metric tons in March 2008.

The company will report full first quarter financial results on April 30.

Shares of Lufthansa closed up 2.4 percent at euro9.42 ($12.40) in Frankfurt.

Lufthansa prepares for year of weak demand by slashing capacity
1 May 2009
Financial Times

Lufthansa said it was bracing itself for a year of weak demand by cutting short-haul capacity by 6 per cent and putting in place contingency plans to slash long-haul by at least 8 per cent.

The German airline's move - which has seen 22 aircraft grounded - underlined the carrier's aim to keep a lid on costs and make an operating profit, as many of its rivals look set to suffer big losses this year.

The cost-cutting comes before expected regulatory clearance from Brussels by the middle of this year for Lufthansa's plans to take over three smaller carriers - BMI in the UK, Austrian Airlines and Belgium's Brussels Airlines.

Stephan Gemkow, chief financial officer, said passenger traffic was down 5 per cent in March, while cargo shipments had slumped by a fifth, compared with the same month in 2008.

The figures were an improvement on the fall in demand recorded in February and the first such uptick since traffic began falling last September.

"Maybe we've seen [the drop in demand] bottom out, but we're still not seeing an improvement," Mr Gemkow said.

At the same time, he said, any effects from the swine-flu outbreak would remain "manageable".

The economic downturn pushed the carrier into a loss in the quarter to the end of March, its first since 2006. Operating losses of €44m (£39.2m) and a writedown in the value of its Frankfurt airport stake led to a net loss of €256m after a profit of €44m a year before.

Fewer passengers and less cargo dragged revenues down 11 per cent to €5bn, as Lufthansa began implementing capacity cuts announced at the end of last year. Only falling jet-fuel prices gave the company some respite, cutting the fuel bill by €332m to €739m compared with the same quarter in 2008.

Lufthansa's cargo unit would idle six instead of four aircraft in a fleet 19, Mr Gemkow said. It would also stop chartering space from Jade Cargo, a Chinese group in which Lufthansa holds a stake.

In Europe, Lufthansa's plans to cut passenger capacity by 6 per cent, exclude the expansion of its new hub and Milan's Malpensa. The new routes added from Italy would see total capacity fall by just 1.5 per cent. The airline said it was trimming long-haul capacity by 1.1 per cent but this could rise to 8 per cent or more, Mr Gemkow said.

Mr Gemkow said he hoped to get a ruling from EU competition watchdogs on buying Brussels Airlines by 1 July, and antitrust approval to take over Austrian by that month's end. A decision on BMI could come on 11 May.

Lufthansa files for EU approval of AUA takeover

FRANKFURT/BRUSSELS, May 8 (Reuters) - Lufthansa AG has filed for European Commission approval for its planned takeover of Austrian Airlines (AUA) , a spokesman for the German flagship carrier said on Friday.

Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd confirmed the EU regulatory watchdog had received Lufthansa's notification, and the deadline for the first phase of the EU's review of the case was June 17.

The European Union's executive Commission had launched an investigation in February into the planned deal, saying it had concerns over the price and restructuring plan.

Lufthansa had agreed in December to buy the loss-making Austrian carrier, expecting the move to make it Europe's biggest airline. As part of the deal, it is taking over Austrian state holding company OeIAG's 42 percent stake in AUA.

The deal also involves the Austrian state assuming around 500 million euros ($670.4 million) of AUA debt.

The Commission had said it had doubts the amount of aid had been kept to a minimum and whether Austria's restructuring plan would restore the airline's long-term viability without the need for more funds in the future.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber has said that the carrier would drop its offer to buy AUA if the EU did not approve all the conditions.

The airline has also said its offer was conditional on reaching at least a 75 percent stake following its public offer. Its 4.49 euro per share takeover offer to shareholders of AUA, submitted in February, expires on Monday.

OTHER DEALS

The European Commission has the power to block mergers across the 27-nation bloc if they violate competition rules or involve illegal state aid.

Once notified, the Commission has 25 working days to conduct a first-stage review. It could approve it or extend the review to 35 working days, to consider either a company's proposed remedies or an EU member state's request to handle the case.

The Commission could also open a detailed second-stage investigation for up to 90 additional working days, which it may extend to 105 working days.

Lufthansa is waiting for decisions from the Commission on two other deals. The EU executive launched an in-depth investigation early this year into the carrier's plan to acquire Belgian SN Airholding SA/NV, which controls Brussels Airlines, and that decision is expected by June 10.

A decision on Lufthansa's bid to take sole control of UK low-cost carrier British Midland [BMID.UL] is expected by May 14. ($1=.7458 Euro)

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Lufthansa no longer wants to take over bmi: report
15 May 2009
Agence France Presse

Leading German carrier Lufthansa is no longer interested in acquiring full control of British airline bmi because the price is too high, Saturday's edition of Suddeutsche Zeitung reports.

Lufthansa management felt that bmi's financial position was worse than first thought, says the report.

The British airline lost 112 million euros (151 million dollars) in 2008.

The report, which did not cite any sources, follows Thursday's decision by EU antitrust regulators to approve the deal whereby Lufthansa would increase its 30 percent stake in bmi to 80 percent.

"After examining the operation, the (European) Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition," Europe's top antitrust watchdog said in a statement.

Lufthansa's takeover, announced in October, would make the German carrier the second biggest airline at London's Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest hub.

Lufthansa mulling takeover of Polish carrier LOT: report
27 May 2009
Agence France Presse

Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, is exploring a takeover of Polish state-controlled carrier LOT, according to a press report.

The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said in a report to appear Thursday that new LOT boss Sebastian Mikosz has met Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber to discuss conditions for a possible takeover.

The newspaper did not identify its sources and a Lufthansa spokeswoman contacted by AFP declined to comment.

LOT is expected to be partially privatised this year. Both airlines are already partners within the Star Alliance, the report noted.

Lufthansa must also wrap up its takeover of Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines in the coming weeks.

The German airline said recently that the conditions for another takeover of the British carrier BMI were not currently in place and threatened to abandon that project if the situation did not change.

Lufthansa says demand may have bottomed out-paper

FRANKFURT, June 27 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa is seeing signs that demand for air traffic is bottoming out but high jet fuel prices could still prevent it from making a profit this year, its chief executive told a newspaper.

"My feeling is: We are just about to level out," CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber told Germany's Suedeutsche Zeitung in an interview published on Saturday.

Mayrhuber's comments contrast with a more gloomy outlook for the airline industry voiced by Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary in an interview with Germany's Spiegel magazine provided to Reuters before publication on Monday.

"The worst is yet to come," O'Leary was quoted as saying.

He reaffirmed an outlook made earlier this month that the Irish carrier would double its earnings in 2009, as it wins cost-conscious travellers from rival airlines.

Lufthansa's Mayrhuber also told Sueddeutsche Zeitung the company was preparing for a prolonged downturn and it was suffering from price competition.

Whether the German airline posted a profit this year would depend on changes in fuel prices, he said. The company would seek to cut more costs to remain able to pay dividends and to fund investments.

He also said Lufthansa would not defer the delivery of new planes this year but might have to resort to such steps in 2010.

EU wants Austrian Air cuts before Lufthansa deal-paper

FRANKFURT, June 30 (Reuters) - The European Commission wants Austrian Airlines to shrink its business by 20 percent before it can allow a takeover by Deutsche Lufthansa , Austrian newspaper Der Standard said on its website Tuesday.

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes wants Austrian Airlines to shrink its passenger traffic by a fifth by 2010 when compared to 2008 levels, the paper said, citing an EU Commission proposal.

A spokesman for the European Commissioner declined to comment on the case, adding that a decision will be made by midnight July 1.

Austrian Airlines should reduce its passenger traffic in its charter business by half, the paper said without citing sources.

Lufthansa agreed in December to buy state-controlled AUA in a deal incorporating 500 million euros ($700 million) in aid from the Austrian government to reduce the money-losing airline's 1 billion euro debt pile.

Both the acquisition itself and the state aid require EU antitrust approval.

Lufthansa has said from the outset that it would walk away from the deal if EU conditions were too onerous. Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber has said he was not interested in buying what he called a "little AUA."

EU probes Lufthansa takeover of Austrian Airlines
Published: 2009/07/02

BRUSSELSThe European Commission yesterday put off a ruling on Lufthansa’s takeover of Austrian Airlines and opened an in-depth probe that could jeopardise the deal, which was opposed by rival airlines.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes announced the decision in a statement, saying there were fears that the takeover deal would lead to an increase in prices for passengers and possible reduced operations on some routes.
-- AFP

> http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20090702024154/Article/

How Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines stack up

July 1 (Reuters) - The European Commission was expected on Wednesday to announce an extended review of Deutsche Lufthansa's planned purchase of Austrian Airlines.

Here are some key facts about the two airlines' operations:

LUFTHANSA

Revenue: 24.87 billion euros

Fleet: 545

Employees: 108,123

Destinations: 242 (Lufthansa and Swiss)

Passengers per year: 70.54 million

Freight per year: 1.91 million tonnes

AUSTRIAN AIRLINES

Revenue: 2.46 billion euros

Fleet: 95

Employees: 7,914

Destinations: 130 (Austrian, Lauda Air and Austrian arrows)

Passengers per year: 10.72 million

I like AuA, great planes, great service, great hot dinner even in 2hrs flights... but a ticket is so expensive... sometimes 100% expensier than other carrier in the same route :S too bad for a nice airline.

Austrian Airlines to cut 1,000 jobs: company
2 July 2009
Agence France Presse

Austrian Airlines said Thursday it would cut 1,000 jobs following record losses in 2008 and amid a troubled bid by German flag carrier Lufthansa to take over the company.

"Austrian Airlines will begin a series of restructurings aimed at creating a lighter, more efficient structure. This will lead to cuts of around 1,000 jobs between now and mid-2010," the group said in a statement.

Analysts expect 1 bln euro Lufthansa cost cut plan

FRANKFURT, July 6 (Reuters) - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa may slash costs by as much as 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) when it unveils steps on July 30 to contend with slumping demand, analysts said on Monday.

Lufthansa shares were up 2.6 percent at 8.95 euros by 1420 GMT, bucking a 1.5 percent decline in the blue-chip DAX <.GDAXI> index.

"I have heard from the board level that they will announce cut costs of a very large amount, by up to 1 billion euros," independent airline industry analyst Kurt Hofmann told Reuters.

A spokeswoman for Lufthansa, which has already annouced cuts of 300 million euros, said no further decisions had been taken but it was working on steps that would be made public July 30.

Analysts said a 1 billion euro savings target at Germany's biggest airline was plausible.

"Given that they've already announced cost cuts of 300 million in the passenger business, it is thoroughly realistic that the firm wants to save 1 billion overall," said Equinet analyst Jochen Rothenbacher.

LBBW analyst Per-Olan Hellgren agreed: " Lufthansa said it was cutting capacity because of collapsing demand. It would be possible to cut a billion in costs depending on how much they trimmed capacity."

Metzler bank analyst Juergen Pieper said 1 billion euros seemed high if it was targeted on a single year. "However, a billion spread out over two to three years I could imagine very well," Pieper said.

Hofmann said he expected Lufthansa to move toward shorter working hours in its passenger business, whereas up to now cargo has mainly been affected.

Forced redundancies were unlikely, he said.

"The slump in cargo means that something has got to happen in the logistic area but the red pencil might also be used more in the passenger and maintenance areas," Hoffmann said.

Lufthansa's 300 million euros worth of cost cuts under way include capacity cuts, staff reductions and the phasing out of older airplanes.

Lufthansa cuts Portland-to-Frankfurt service
7 July 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Lufthansa is ending its direct flights between Portland and Frankfurt.

Lufthansa notified the Port of Portland last weekend that it would suspend Frankfurt service after Sept. 12.

A Lufthansa spokesman told The Oregonian the decision was not easy, but the flights have been losing money amid the global recession. The airline will consider restoring the service next year.

Travelers already booked on Lufthansa flights after Sept. 12 will likely be rerouted through Seattle. Alternatives are Delta's Amsterdam route or a five-hour flight to the East Coast followed by a seven-hour trip to Europe.

One time I was in Portland a few years ago and I noticed the LH flight on one of the screens and remember thinking to my self: "daaaamn LH flies non stop all the way out here while we don't even have a direct flight to Europe from SD anymore"

Portland has a nice airport by the way

What a bad news for Portland!

Lufthansa reports 2.8 pct drop in traffic in June
9 July 2009
Agence France Presse

The leading German airline, Lufthansa, said on Thursday it suffered a 2.8-percent fall in traffic in June from the figure for the same month in 2008, owing to the global economic crisis.

Lufthansa transported a total of 4.92 million passengers while its subsidiary Swiss carried 1.12 million, a statement said.

The airline's seat load factor, a key indicator of operations, fell by 3.4 points to 77.6 percent despite reduced overall capacity.

For the first half of the year, Lufthansa said its own passenger numbers fell by 6.1 percent to 26.7 million, but that when Swiss was included the drop was a more modest 4.8 percent to 33.2 million.

"Except for Middle East / Africa, the first half passenger count declined in all traffic regions," the statement said.

Freight operations were also hit by the global slowdown, with Lufthansa Cargo carrying 694,000 tonnes of freight and mail in the first six months of the year, 20.1 percent less than in the same period of 2008.

Lufthansa said in June that it would take more measures to reduce costs, and raised fuel surcharges on most passenger flights as it raised its forecast for fuel expenses this year to 3.55 billion euros (five billion dollars) from 3.4 billion previously.

EU: slim chance of rapid decision on Lufthansa/AUA

BRUSSELS, July 10 (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators said on Friday they were unlikely to decide this month on Lufthansa's plan to buy Austrian Airlines (AUA) despite an informal offer of revised remedies from the German carrier.

"Unless there is a miracle, we will not be in a position to take a decision by the end of this month," European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd told a daily briefing.

Lufthansa has said it can walk away from the planned AUA deal if it does not get the green light by July 31. The EU executive is now reviewing the proposed takeover, with the deadline for a decision set for Nov. 6.

Last A300 departed Lufthansa's fleet
"Rosenheim" completed the final revenue flight as LH3853 FCO-FRA.:hi:
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^^Last landing of a LH A300 in FRA - The end of an era :(
sRuC0g7stv4

Lufthansa-AUA Deal Further From Gaining EU Approval
13 July 2009

VIENNA (Dow Jones)--Deutsche Lufthansa AG's (LHA.XE) planned takeover of Austrian Airlines AG (AUA.VI) looked less likely Monday after both the European Commission and Lufthansa signalled unwillingness to compromise in the battle for antitrust approval.

Lufthansa's EUR4.49 a share offer for its financially troubled Austrian peer depends on gaining antitrust clearance from the European Commission by July 31.

But Lufthansa Monday said it has no intention of improving the offer it has submitted to the commission, which was rejected for being insufficient.

"We have submitted our offer on Friday," Lufthansa spokeswoman Stefanie Stotz said, declining to elaborate further on the carrier's position.

"We stand by our takeover offer for Austrian Air under the well known conditions," she said.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Todd, spokesman for Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, said the offered remedies won't be enough for a clearance, and the ball is now in Lufthansa's court.

"The chances of a decision [by July 31] by the commission are fading very fast," he told journalists in Brussels Monday.

"Lufthansa has given no indication whatsoever that they have any intention of offering improved remedies," he said, underlining that the offer on the table is far from the commission's requirements.

The offered remedies "do not pass what is required for phase two clearance. They are clearly not sufficient to meet our competition concerns," he said.

SCENARIOS-What next for Austrian Air if Lufthansa bid fails?

VIENNA, July 15 (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa's planned purchase of Austrian Airlines (AUA) could collapse if Lufthansa and the European Commission do not come to an agreement soon in their protracted war of nerves over the deal.

The Commission fears the merger will hamper competition and raise airfares.

Following are some of the options AUA's shareholders and creditors and rivals face if Lufthansa pulls out of the deal, which it can do if it does not have an EU nod by July 31.

Any scenario -- restructuring, bad asset spin-off or insolvency -- would result in a much smaller AUA, and taxpayers would foot an even higher bill than the 500 million euros ($702 million) in state aid that are part of the Lufthansa deal.

* LUFTHANSA LIFTS JULY 31 DEADLINE

Lufthansa can lift the July 31 deadline. This would mean that the deal would close immediately and Lufthansa would bear the regulatory risk -- it could not pull out if the EU insisted on tough conditions.

Lufthansa can also ask Austria's takeover commission -- a body tasked with ensuring shareholders are treated fairly in takeovers -- to extend the deadline. It would have to notify the takeover commission by July 27.

However, the takeover commission said it is not likely to approve a blanket extension for more talks, but would only grant a very limited grace period if Lufthansa could convince it that a brief extension would make the deal possible.

* AUA SALE IS RESTARTED, OPEN FOR NEW BIDDERS

Austrian state holding company OeIAG, which owns 42 percent of AUA, could restart the public tender for its stake. If it did, Lufthansa would be banned from taking part in it for a year, although this period can be shortened on request.

The tender would be a protracted affair: The process in which Lufthansa was picked as winner started in August last year. Lufthansa's main rival in that race had been Air France-KLM .

To survive until then, AUA would need short-term financing, as it will have used up a 200 million euro ($281 million) lifeline loan by the Austrian government by the end of the year.

But that will not be enough. With more than 1 billion euros in debt, another heavy loss due in 2009 and already geared up to more than five times equity, AUA will also need a capital injection -- most likely from the Austrian government.

* AUA DOWNSIZES: PLAN "VIENNA AIRLINES"

AUA's management's 'plan B' is to downsize the carrier by around a third, canceling routes, cutting staff, and mothballing aircraft. It would probably mainly cut long-distance flights and turn the airline into a regional carrier focused on its strengths in eastern Europe and possibly the Middle East.

AUA's chairman and its co-chief executive said on Monday they would need more than 1 billion euros to execute this plan -- more than twice the state aid Austria would provide under the Lufthansa deal.

Sources close to AUA say that they expect the Austrian government to step in with this amount; analysts say that it is hard to see how it could come from anybody else.

For Lufthansa -- and other rivals such as Air Berlin and its Austrian partner Flyniki -- this could create some opportunities to fill in the gaps AUA leaves.

AUA's management also says that such a restructuring would not remove the need to find a buyer for the airline.

* AUA SPLITS IN "GOOD" AND "BAD" AIRLINE: PLAN "ALITALIA"

To remove some of the less attractive aspects of AUA -- such as its debt pile, pension liabilities, redundant employees and aircraft -- the carrier could be split into a "good" and a "bad" part, similar to how Alitalia was broken up last year.

Such a solution would probably ease a sale by putting the burden of dealing with legacy problems onto Austrian taxpayers, who would have to back the "bad" company if the deal is structured the way Italy structured the Alitalia rescue.

* AUA GOES INSOLVENT: PLAN "SWISSAIR"

A sudden and disorderly insolvency like that of Swissair in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, which resulted in a grounding of its fleet and thousands of stranded travellers is an unlikely scenario for AUA, analysts say.

The government and the big Austrian banks which are both AUA shareholders and among its main creditors would be keen on avoiding such a scenario, they say.

Lufthansa submits new AUA remedy offer

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT, July 16 (Reuters) - Lufthansa has submitted a new remedied offer to the European Commission aimed at tackling antitrust concerns over the carrier's plan to buy Austrian Airlines (AUA) , the German company said.

The commission said late on Thursday it will study the offer carefully but could not make any further comment at this stage.

Difficulties with the proposed takeover this week had raised fears that the deal might not take place, but this new offer gives some hope that a transaction might be possible.

Lufthansa has been fighting to contain concessions in its planned purchase of the Austrian carrier ahead of a July 31 deadline to agree a deal as it struggles to limit the costs of the acquisition

Lufthansa had originally agreed to pay up to 377 million euros ($531.3 million) for AUA and has since had to offer the European Union some concessions on lucrative routes. To offset rising costs of the purchase, AUA on Wednesday approved a 150 million euro savings programme.

AUA lost 429 million euros last year and has piled up more than 1 billion euros in debt, or more than five times its equity. It only survived this spring due to a 200 million euro lifeline from the Austrian government, two thirds of which it has used up.

Lufthansa to make further cost cuts
Published: 2009/07/17
Source: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20090717021216/Article/

FRANKFURT: Lufthansa announced extra cost cuts yesterday, in part by shedding office staff, to save e1 billion (RM5 billion) per year from 2011.

A letter by Lufthansa’s new chief executive Christoph Franz to staff warned that higher fuel costs and falling passenger numbers posed a real threat and said: “This situation is forcing us to act.”

After posting a first-quarter loss, Lufthansa’s first-half results “will show that this negative trend is continuing”, Franz said.

“We must now make ever more determined efforts to counteract the trend,” he stressed, adding: “We have no other alternative but to resort to painful measures.”

The airline will eliminate about 400 positions by not replacing people who leave the company, and seeks to avoid firings “at present,” Amelie Schwierholz, a Lufthansa spokeswoman said yesterday by phone.

The airline will announce details of the cost-savings programme when it reports earnings on July 30, she added. — Agencies

Lufthansa looks to cut costs by €1bn as demand shrinks
By Kevin Done in London and Gerrit Wiesmann in Frankfurt
17 July 2009
Financial Times

Lufthansa is being forced to cut jobs in its main airline division and to defer deliveries of new aircraft as part of emergency measures to mitigate rising losses.

The German carrier said it was seeking to cut costs by around €1bn ($1.4bn) by the end of 2011 in an effort to reverse the rapid erosion of its competitive position against rival airlines.

Lufthansa has previously been slow to acknowledge publicly the scale of the challenge it faces, but Christoph Franz, the newly appointed chief executive of the main Lufthansa airline division and deputy group chief executive, warned yesterday that the airline industry was suffering "the worst crisis in its history."

In a tough letter to airline division staff he said the "exceptional" decline in demand and passenger numbers was being exacerbated by an "alarming" drop in yields (average fares). The airline was "not earning enough to cover costs" and would report later this month a continuing trend of losses for the first six months of the year.

Mr Franz said Lufthansa losses would "increase significantly" in the coming year due in particular to the rise in fuel costs, unless there was an improvement in market conditions.

Previous efforts to cut costs, reduce capacity and slow capital investment in the crisis had proved insufficient. Mr Franz warned Lufthansa had become uncompetitive. "Many of our competitors are today producing at distinctly more favourable cost levels and can woo important customer groups away from us with more attractive fares," he said. The economic crisis had "bluntly" exposed the group's weakness, he said only days after taking over as head of the division.

Measures would include a 20 per cent cut in administrative staff in the airline, a loss of 400 jobs.

The German carrier, the biggest aviation group in Europe measured by turn-over, warned suppliers they would have to share the pain, and Mr Franz said shrinking cashflow would force the group to consider deferring deliveries of new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus from next year.

Lufthansa has one of the most ambitious order schedules for new aircraft of any airline in Europe with 160 jets, valued at €16bn at list prices before discounts, that must be financed between 2008 and 2014.

The group has already been one of the most active airlines in the capital market this year with two bond issues, the most recent earlier this month to raise €750m, as it seeks to shore up its shrinking cash resources.

Iata, the global airline trade association, warned yesterday that the latest passenger travel numbers cast doubt on the view that a bottom had been reached in the air travel sector.

Total passenger numbers fell by 9.2 per cent in May, the largest fall so far this year.

Most alarmingly for long-haul network carriers such as Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and BA, the numbers of passengers travelling on premium tickets were down by 23.8 per cent in May, after a decline of 22 per cent in April and a 19.2 fall in the first quarter.

Lufthansa seeks to extend deadline for AUA deal

FRANKFURT/VIENNA, July 28 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa has asked the Austrian Takeover Commission to extend the deadline to complete its deal on buying Austrian Airlines (AUA) as it scrambles to address EU antitrust concerns.

The German flagship carrier said on Tuesday it was nearing an agreement with the European Commission -- whose approval is required for the deal -- but would not be able to get formal approval of the acquisition by its self-imposed July 31 deadline.

Lufthansa said it had asked the Austrian Takeover Commission to extend the Aug. 31 to give it and the European Commission more time to reach agreement, after a weeks-long standoff over EU concerns that combining the airlines would affect fair competition.

The Austrian Takeover Commission said it would decide this week whether the deadline could be extended.

Both Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines declined to comment.

Austrian Airlines shares were 6.9 percent higher at 4.35 euros by 1120 GMT, buoyed by hopes that the long-running takeover process might finally be worked out. Lufthansa was 0.1 percent higher at 9.525.

"This (extension seeking) takes a little bit of the pressure out of the negotiations," said UniCredit analyst Katherina Kastenberger, adding that she thought there was now a stronger possibility of a deal being secured.

"It shows Lufthansa is still interested in AUA," she said.

At the end of last year, Lufthansa agreed to buy loss-making AUA, but said at the time that it wanted all of its conditions to be approved by the end of July, giving it an escape route if it the deal became too difficult or expensive.

Lufthansa has submitted new proposals intended to tackle antitrust concerns, the European Commission said, adding that it planned to market-test the new offer.

CLOSING THE DEAL

Lufthansa previous had agreed to concessions to allay the Commission's concerns -- after AUA approved a third cost-cutting programme to slim down ahead of the buy -- but there has been no approval for the deal.

The whole process has dragged on for nearly a year.

AUA lost 429 million euros ($612.5 million) in 2008 and has piled up more than 1 billion euro in debt, or more than five times its equity. It only survived the past months due to a 200 million euro lifeline by the Austrian government.

A source close to the deal said parties involved could come to an informal agreement this week.

"It has become more likely that there will be an informal agreement, a handshake (on conditions), but without anything written down or going through the bureaucratic measures," the person said.

The source also confirmed a report in Austrian daily Kurier that said Lufthansa was ready to give up some key takeoff and landing slots in Vienna to competitors to defuse monopoly concerns at the Commission.

Kurier reported that Lufthansa was prepared to yield six of 10 slots between Vienna and Frankfurt to other carriers like Austrian low-fare airline Niki and Slovenia's Adria Airways.

Peter Michaelis, head of Austrian holding company OeIAG, said he hoped talks were down to formalities.

"When all parties want it, we can do it and I still think the chances are very good that this deal will be sealed," he told Austrian radio.

He said the airlines had made "economically sensible" decisions related to route rights and timetables to ease talks.

"The details of remedies of Lufthansa's offer are the key to evaluate the attractiveness of the deal," said Equinet analyst Jochen Rothenbacher, adding he expected Lufthansa to use its strong negotiating position to get a good deal.

Analysts have said that while Lufthansa sees only 80 million euros of potential synergies from the deal, it will pay off in the long run as it gives access to growth regions in eastern Europe such as Krasnodar, southwestern Russia; Kosice, Slovakia; and Odessa, Ukraine. ($1=.7004 Euro)

Lufthansa-AUA deal 'catastrophe' for Austria: Lauda
2 August 2009
Agence France Presse

Budget airline owner Niki Lauda portrayed Lufthansa's takeover of Austrian Airlines as a catastrophe for Austria, after it made large concessions to secure the deal, in an interview published Sunday.

"I'm surprised that Mr. Proell (Austria's finance minister) is now selling this as a big success," the former Formula One world champion turned entrepreneur told the daily Oesterreich.

"This is the biggest catastrophe (for Austria) since World War II," he added.

"It takes no skill to give away an airline and then still pay 500 million euros on top of that."

Finance Minister Josef Proell spoke Friday of a "great success", after the European Commission gave a conditional go-ahead to Lufthansa's takeover of Austrian Airlines (AUA).

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told national television ORF however that the deal was an "emergency solution" but no "great victory."

"When the taxpayer has to pay 500 million, that's no success story," he said, although he added he was relieved the deal had gone through.

Lufthansa signed a deal last year to acquire a 41.6-percent stake in the loss-making AUA from the Austrian state holding company OeIAG for a symbolic one euro cent per share -- or just over 366,000 euros (518,000 dollars) in all.

Meanwhile, the Austrian state pledged to absorb 500 million euros -- or just over a third -- of AUA's debts to facilitate the takeover.

Despite his harsh words towards Proell, Lauda expressed his satisfaction with his part of the deal. It gives his budget airline Niki seven new take-off and landing slots in Germany, and will allow him to expand next year.

EU endorses Lufthansa's AUA buy with conditions

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT, Aug 27 (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa won European Union regulatory approval of its planned takeover of Austrian Airlines (AUA), the latest deal to boost its position in the fiercely competitive market.

Lufthansa said on Friday the EU's green light paves the way for it to integrate AUA into the Lufthansa group next month, ending months of negotiations with the EU Commission and adding to its trophy case of acquisitions.

The German flag carrier also recently bought Brussels Airlines in a deal worth up to 250 million euros ($359 million) and lifted its stake in British carrier BMI to 80 percent.

Airlines around the world are seeking to merge with or take over rivals to boost scale and expand into growth regions as travellers cut back on air travel in the global economic crisis.

In its talks with regulators, Lufthansa played hardball to limit the costs of its AUA acquisition, and ended up agreeing to some concessions only after the Austrian carrier had approved a third cost-cutting programme to slim down ahead of the buy.

The Commission, competition watchdog in the 27-country European Union, said Lufthansa would cede airport slots to rivals on routes from Vienna to Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne and Brussels.

"This case shows that consolidation in the airline sector is possible with proper remedies to safeguard consumers' interests," European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement on Friday.

Shares of Lufthansa rose 0.8 percent to 11.22 euros by 1109 GMT, while Austrian Airlines was up 1.6 percent at 4.47 euros.

UNDER PRESSURE

AUA lost 429 million euros ($616 million) in 2008 and has piled up more than 1 billion euros in debt, or more than five times its equity. It only survived the past months due to a 200 million euro lifeline from the Austrian government.

The EU executive on Friday also approved restructuring aid given by the Austrian government to loss-making AUA .

Analysts have said that while Lufthansa sees only 80 million euros of potential synergies from the deal, it will pay off in the long run as it gives access to growth regions in eastern Europe such as Krasnodar, southwestern Russia; Kosice, Slovakia; and Odessa, Ukraine.

Still, the purchase puts Lufthansa under pressure to safeguard its earnings in the short term, as demand for air travel remains weak and credit rating agencies are becoming more critical of the carrier's debt.

Standard & Poor's on Thursday lowered its rating on Lufthansa's debt to "BBB-", one notch above junk grade, saying it expected the recession to weigh on passenger numbers and yields until at least the end of 2009.

Rating agency Moody's had already said on Aug. 3 it would review its "Baa3" rating on Lufthansa's debt, which is also just one notch above non-investment grade, for a possible downgrade after the carrier posted weak second-quarter results.

Lufthansa is one of only a handful of airlines around the world that have an investment grade rating, and a cut to junk would hurt its image as a financially strong company, and raise its interest payments on debt.

Lufthansa plans squeeze-out of AUA shareholders

FRANKFURT, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa said it planned to squeeze out minority shareholders of Austrian Airlines (AUA) , which it bought on a Thursday to become Europe's biggest airline.

After closing the deal, the German flagship carrier said it had obtained more than 90 percent of AUA shares. Remaining minority shareholders now have until Sept. 9 to accept Lufthansa's 4.49 euro per share takeover offer.

That is close to AUA's current share price, which at 1112 GMT was down 0.7 percent at 4.47 euros while Lufthansa's shares were 2.1 percent higher at 10.87 euros.

Lufthansa has been battling Air France-KLM and British Airways for pole position in the European aviation sector and it has spent far more on purchases over the past year than its rivals.

Last week, it got the regulatory green light to merge with AUA. The acquisition adds to Lufthansa's recent purchases of Brussels Airlines as well as a majority stake in Britain's bmi [BMID.UL] and brings its passenger numbers to around 100 million a year.

Airlines around the world have been buffeted by a slump in demand for air travel and rising jet fuel prices over recent months. Oil prices have about doubled from lows of $34 per barrel recorded earlier this year.

Lufthansa management board member Stefan Lauer said he expected that global airlines' losses this year could exceed industry body IATA's estimate of $9 billion as no improvement across the sector was in sight so far.

"We cannot expect a miracle from one day to the next," he said to journalists late on Wednesday in remarks embargoed until Thursday.

STRENUOUS EFFORTS

IATA, whose 230 member airlines fly some 93 percent of international air traffic, said on Monday the world's airlines lost at least $6 billion in the first half of the year as higher oil and jet fuel prices added to costs.

Lauer said it would take strenuous efforts for Lufthansa to reach its 2009 earnings targets.

The carrier has said it aimed to cut annual costs by 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) by 2011 and warned it could post a 2009 operating loss.

Analysts have said that while Lufthansa sees only 80 million euros of potential synergies from the deal, it will pay off in the long run as it gives access to growth regions in eastern Europe such as Krasnodar in southwestern Russia, Kosice in Slovakia and Odessa in Ukraine.

AUA lost 429 million euros in 2008 and has piled up more than 1 billion euros in debt, or more than five times its equity. It only survived the past months due to a 200 million euro lifeline from the Austrian government.

"AUA does not have a product problem, it has a cost problem," Lufthansa's Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber told journalists at a press conference in Vienna on Thursday.

He said AUA was still burning cash now but aimed to become cash positive by 2010 and earn its cost of capital as soon as possible. ($1=.7000 Euro)

Crowded skies as Lufthansa opens bmi books
8 September 2009
The Times

Lufthansa, the German flag carrier, has opened the books at bmi and is offering rivals a chance to conduct limited due diligence on the British airline before a possible sale.

A number of airlines, including British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic, are understood to have signed confidentiality agreements with Lufthansa. Others, including Flybe, the regional carrier, and international airlines from the Middle East, Far East and the United States, are said to have expressed an interest in buying some of bmi's assets, particularly its landing slots at Heathrow.

However, it is uncertain how many of the airlines that have applied to receive financial data on bmi, the former British Midland, are seriously interested buyers or whether they merely want to take a closer look at a competitor.

Lufthansa bought a stake of 50 per cent plus one share in bmi from Sir Michael Bishop, the former chairman, two months ago, concluding a deal first brokered ten years ago.

The Germans are thought to have paid about £230 million for Sir Michael's shares and Lufthansa now owns 80 per cent of the Derby-based airline. The remaining 20 per cent is owned by SAS, the Scandinavian carrier.

Lufthansa declined to comment on its plans for bmi but a person close to the company said: "There is a big bandwidth of options and these all have to be looked at." The options are understood to range between an outright sale of bmi and fully integrating it into the German carrier.

Martin Broughton, the BA chairman, is said to have been in Germany last week to discuss options with Lufthansa.

BA declined to comment yesterday on its interest in bmi or whether Mr Broughton's trip had taken place.

Analysts said that if BA were to bid for bmi it would face regulatory hurdles because the two carriers are the largest operating out of Heathrow. They also point to Ryanair's blocked bid for Aer Lingus, the Irish flag carrier, as an example of how difficult it is to secure an intra-country airline merger.

Industry insiders have admitted that BA could be forced to give up half of bmi to appease regulators. It would struggle to raise financing for a full acquisition, which would cost up to £500 million, and analysts believe that financial and regulatory barriers make it more likely that BA would encourage Lufthansa to break up bmi. This would allow BA to pick up extra slots at Heathrow without the burden of restructuring a loss-making company.

Slots could also be sold to other international airlines wanting a bigger footprint at Heathrow, while a smaller carrier, such as Flybe, might be interested in bmi's regional operations. Virgin Atlantic's plan is understood to be more ambitious: it wants to merge bmi with its long-haul operations.

However, unless Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, can raise financing to buy bmi outright, a deal could be difficult to achieve.

One option being considered would be for Lufthansa to take a stake in a merged Virgin-bmi, but it is not clear whether Sir Richard is willing to accept a dilution in his shareholding. In the past he has always ruled that out.

People close to Lufthansa have indicated that the Germans are not interested in having a shareholding in a merged Virgin-bmi.

While Lufthansa's rivals consider whether to make offers for part or all of bmi, the Germans are understood to have started a restructuring project at the British airline with the aim of returning it to profitability.

Lufthansa built up its stake in bmi to 80 per cent only two months ago but is now considering options including an outright sale of the British airline.

Lufthansa Cargo denies plans to shrink fleet

FRANKFURT, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Deutsche Lufthansa's cargo unit denied a report that it was considering permanently grounding several of its 19 MD-11 cargo planes.

The company has grounded three of its planes and plans to ground a fourth one from Oct. 1 in response to a drop in demand.

Air cargo companies have been buffeted by spending curbs by businesses amid the global economic crisis. Industry body IATA has said it expects global airlines to lose $11 billion this year on weak passenger and cargo demand.

"We have no plans to permanently take freighters out of our fleet," a spokesman for the company said on Friday.

German daily Handelsblatt had earlier cited unnamed sources as saying Lufthansa Cargo was considering shrinking its fleet.

Handelsblatt also cited Lufthansa Cargo's Chief Executive Carsten Spohr as saying the German flagship carrier's unit was not considering shutting down its own fleet altogether.

"I don't want to imagine that Lufthansa Cargo's own fleet goes to zero," he was cited as saying.

Lufthansa has forecast a full-year operating loss for its cargo business and has said it could also post a loss in its passenger airlines if it cannot cut costs fast enough.

The airline said in an employee newsletter it was shutting down the fleet of about 45 planes seating 50 passengers each operated by regional carriers CityLine and Eurowings faster than planned as costs per seat sold were higher than on other planes.

Lufthansa looks for increased frequency to Indian cities by 2011
8 January 2010
The Times of India

PUNE: German airline major Lufthansa, which has lined up orders worth Euro 16 billion for acquisition of 160 new aircraft including 15 Airbus 380s and 25 Boeing 747-800s by mid-2012, is looking for a further increase in the frequency of its services to various Indian destinations in 2011.

"We are getting a lot of these aircraft by 2010-11 and obviously, they will have to fly somewhere. The Indian market offers us a big potential," said Lufthansa's south Asia Director Axel Hilgers, while speaking to reporters here on Thursday.

The question remains, will the India airports presently served by Lufthansa be ready to handle the 500+ seater jumbo aircraft like A-380s? "We hope the New Delhi airport may be first to upgrade itself to the demands of handling such huge aircraft, going by the schedule of the ongoing expansion work there in view of the Commonwealth Games 2010," he said.

Hilgers, who took over as the head of Lufthansa's south Asia operations in January, last year, was on his maiden visit to Pune to announce a change in the Pune-Frankfurt flight pattern besides holding interactions with representatives of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce and key German corporates like auto major Volkswagen.

As of now, Lufthansa operates flights to seven Indian destinations__New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata__with a frequency of 52 flights for the ongoing winter schedule of the airliners. "We plan to increase the frequency to 53 flights in the forthcoming summer schedule, starting end of March, by reintroducing daily flight service between Bangalore and Frankfurt. The service was earlier curtailed to six days a week," he said.

Apart from its own operation, Lufthansa is in the midst of an elaborate integration process with alliance partners like the Austrian Airlines and the Swiss Airlines, which operate flights to New Delhi and Mumbai, respectively. "In India, we have had synergies with our partner airlines on several fronts," he said. For instance, Lufthansa has taken over the sales network for Austrian airlines business in India. "We are in market with one common contract vis-a-vis travel and trade," he said.

"Both Austrian and Swiss airlines are currently operating five and 10 flights, repsectively to the two Indian destinations. The Swiss airlines will increase the frequency to 11, coming summer," he said. This will take the Lufthansa group's (alliance partners included) total number of frequencies to Indian destinations to 70 from existing 67, he added.

More recently, Lufthansa has got into a joint venture (JV) arrangement with the Continental Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada to operate the sales network of these airliners for all business that goes over the North Atlantic from India, he said.

Hilgers said, "The integration was critical not only for the recession-hit global airline companies to tackle the economic situation but also provides several advantages to passengers vis-a-vis harmonisation of fares, lounge access and one-touch point service, among others."

Record numbers fly with Swiss

Swiss International Air Lines carried a record of 13.8 million passengers last year, up from 13.5 million in 2008.

German parent company Lufthansa, on the other hand, welcomed 2.6 per cent fewer passengers on its flights: 55.6 million.

Swiss operated 136,536 flights in 2009, an increase of 1.6 per cent, but seat load factor – how much of an airline’s passenger-carrying capacity is used – suffered a slight year-on-year decline, dropping from 80.3 per cent to 80.1 per cent.

While long-haul passenger-carrying capacity fell slightly from 84.2 per cent to 83.2 per cent, Swiss’s European network registered an increase for the year from 72.1 per cent to 74.1 per cent.

The airfreight business of Swiss WorldCargo benefited from the modest economic recovery seen in the fourth quarter of the year, although cargo load factor (by volume) for 2009 as a whole stood at 70.7 per cent, down from 77.6 per cent in 2008.

Russia Threatens To Ban Austrian Airlines Flights - Report
1 March 2010

LONDON (Dow Jones)--The Russian government has threatened to ban Austrian Airline flights to Moscow after the carrier's takeover by Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) raised questions over the two countries' bilateral air services agreement, The Financial Times reports on its Web site Monday.

Russia has asked Austria for information proving the airline is still Austrian-controled and information already received has been deemed unsatisfactory, the FT says, citing people close to the matter.

The airline is now unsure whether its summer flights schedule will be approved.

'We are optimistic the Austrian government will be able to convince the Russian side of its position, which is also our position, that is that Austrian Airlines is still an Austrian airline in terms of the bilateral agreement conditions between Austria and Russia,' the FT cites an Austrian Airlines spokesman as saying.

Swiss flies profitably despite harsh headwinds

Swiss International Air Lines (Group) recorded an operating profit of SFr146 million ($136 million) for 2009.

The airline, owned by German state carrier, Lufthansa, said in a statement that total income from operating activities last year declined by 17 per cent to SFr4.36 billion compared with 2008.

Swiss CEO Harry Hohmeister said he was satisfied with the airline’s performance. “We achieved a black-ink result in all four quarters; and we were able to do so despite sizeable declines in our revenues and a tangible migration from higher to lower booking classes,” he explained.

Swiss contributed significantly to Lufthansa’s 2009 operating profit of €130 million ($177 million).

The airfreight business of Swiss also showed signs of recovery towards year-end.

However, the airline cautioned that the aviation sector was “unlikely to see any swift recovery”, even if the global economy picked up.

To meet the challenges, Swiss reduced frequencies on certain intercontinental routes last year.

New SWISS Livery for its newest USA Route to San Francisco.

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/4/2/6/1715624.jpg

https://s-hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs337.snc3/29459_398761215722_16565655722_4774840_2166902_n.jpg



Making of
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5cnMlkKPKY

Lufthansa eyes in-flight Internet for short-haul fleet

Lufthansa is looking closely at bringing in-flight communications to its short-haul fleet to address what it believes is a growing need for passengers to be connected all the time, including in the air.

Company vice-president product management and innovation Christian Körfgen tells ATI and Flightglobal that the German flag carrier envisages offering broadband on everything from intra-European flights of four to fives hours in duration to even "half-hour flights".

A former customer of defunct Connexion by Boeing (CBB), Lufthansa is poised to re-launch its FlyNet-branded in-flight Internet service on overseas flights. The carrier is working in partnership with Panasonic Avionics, which has also been tasked to fit its high-speed Ku-band satellite-based eXConnect service to the long-haul aircraft that are not presently fitted with CBB antennas in Lufthansa's fleet. Lufthansa will also offer mobile connectivity to passengers via Panasonic partner AeroMobile.

Körfgen says Lufthansa expects to offer the same type of services on its narrowbody aircraft as it will offer on its long-haul fleet, although the carrier has not picked a provider as yet. "There are different possibilities, such as satellite or possibly terrestrial. We are looking at it quite sharply," he says.

The carrier is open to partnering with a company other than Panasonic, but also sings the praises of the in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) manufacturer as well as its work on reigniting CBB for Lufthansa.

"Up until now, it has been an impressive job that Panasonic did in that area, regarding the complexity of the whole system. We are quite confident of being out there quite soon," says Körfgen.

The carrier is currently testing in-flight Internet on four aircraft - two Airbus A340s and two A330s.

"We hope as soon as we finish our testing we hope that [the re-launch] is going to be still this year, but we want to be sure that it's working correctly, that we have the right upstream and downstream volumes, and that the satellite connection is working properly without any interruptions at all," says the Lufthansa executive.

He adds: "We are focused on business travellers and as you know all around the world, business travellers need to be connected all the time. To stay connected, one of the major issues is to have connectivity on board. With the new media, that is one of the most important things for travellers, and especially business travellers during long-haul trips, but we think on short-haul it's getting more and more important."

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/08/27/346756/lufthansa-eyes-in-flight-internet-for-short-haul-fleet.html

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http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/4951513857_515494d62b_b.jpg

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Lufthansa/Swiss fligths to Brazil are reaching almost 100%!!!!


São Paulo-Frankfurt +90% | daily
São Paulo-Munich +90% | 5week
São Paulo-Zurich +95% | daily

Site (http://www.panrotas.com.br/noticia-turismo/aviacao/voos-da-lufthansa-e-swiss-beiram-100-de-ocupacao_61306.html)


I think is time to another brazilian city(could be Rio or Brasilia).

In my opinion,Brasilia(3rd largest Brazil´s airport and TAM/StarAlliance´s hub) would be a great option,since TAM already flys Rio-Frankfurt.

The route Brazil-Germany-Brazil is the 4th largest from to Brazil to Europe,but there only directly flights to 3 brazilians cities and only 26 weekly flights.

Just to compere with Spain(3rd largest european route from/to Brazil)

Passengers/2009

>Spain 637.472
>Germany 591.508


Cities in Brazil

>Spain 5
>Germany 3

Weekly fligths

>Spain(35): 21 São Paulo/7 Rio/4 Salvador/3 Fortaleza and Recife
>Germany(26): 19 São Paulo/5 Rio/2 Salvador

Lufthansa Group to order 40 Airbus aircraft worth $4.3 billion (http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/press-release/detail/lufthansa-group-to-order-40-airbus-aircraft-worth-43-billion/)

22 September 2010

Lufthansa’s Supervisory Board has approved the acquisition of 40 Airbus aircraft worth approximately US$4.3 billion. These aircraft are destined for Lufthansa, plus two of the Group’s subsidiary airlines: SWISS and Germanwings. The orders comprise: 20 A320 Family aircraft and three A330-300s for Lufthansa; four A320 Family aircraft and five A330-300s for SWISS; and eight A319s for Germanwings. With this order, the Lufthansa Group, Airbus’s biggest airline customer, will have acquired a combined total of 410 Airbus aircraft.

“Our decision to acquire additional Airbus aircraft is testament not only to their advantageous operating costs, reliability and performance, but also to our long-standing partnership with Airbus,” says Nico Buchholz, Lufthansa’s Executive Vice President, Group Fleet Management. He adds: These Airbus aircraft will provide eco-efficiency, seamless comfort, passenger appeal and operational synergies across the Lufthansa Group.”

“We are proud that Lufthansa Group has again chosen Airbus aircraft to strengthen its fleet,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers. “Lufthansa, SWISS and Germanwings will all benefit from full operational flexibility and commonality thanks to the Airbus Family concept. We are confident that these efficient and modern aircraft will continue to contribute to their success.”

Today Lufthansa Group is Airbus’ biggest operator worldwide with around 325 Airbus aircraft currently in service. These include: 227 A320 Family; 30 A330s; 65 A340s; and three A380s. In addition to this latest decision for 40 aircraft, the Lufthansa Group has an order backlog of a further 51 Airbus aircraft to be delivered. These include 36 A320 Family, three A330s, and 12 A380s.

The A320 single-aisle Family, specialising on short to medium-haul sectors, has established itself as the industry standard for passenger comfort and offers the lowest-operating cost per seat. Over 6,600 have been sold and around 4,400 delivered to more than 300 customers and operators worldwide, making it the world’s best-selling commercial jetliner ever.

Meanwhile, the versatile A330 Family specialises in medium to long ranges and combines high comfort standards, interior flexibility and superior economics with exceptional operational reliability exceeding 99 per cent. Encompassing the A330-200 and A330-300 passenger versions and now also the dedicated A330-200 Freighter, the A330 is the most popular wide-body commercial aircraft in its category, with a combined order total exceeding 1,100.

:banana::okay::banana:

Lufthansa Airlines September Passengers +12% On Year At 5.69 Million
11 October 2010

FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) Monday said it airline passenger traffic in September rose 12% compared to a year earlier to 5.69 million.

MAIN FACTS:

-The load factor for the month for Lufthansa Airlines was 82.6%, up 1.9 percentage points.

-Lufthansa Group passenger traffic during the month rose 7.9% on the year to 8.65 million while the load factor was 82.6%, up 2 percentage points.

-All traffic regions contributed to the strong sales growth.

-In the two main longhaul regions the prior months' high load factors were maintained, while in European traffic and in the Middle East/Africa region they improved sharply once again.

Source : http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/168497/?threadid=168497&searchid=168596&s=TPE#ID168596

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/airpearl2007/TGB031.jpg

Any chance for Swiss to get an A380? That plane with the cross would be an amazing vision :banana:

Lufthansa/Swiss fligths to Brazil are reaching almost 100%!!!!


São Paulo-Frankfurt +90% | daily
São Paulo-Munich +90% | 5week
São Paulo-Zurich +95% | daily

Site (http://www.panrotas.com.br/noticia-turismo/aviacao/voos-da-lufthansa-e-swiss-beiram-100-de-ocupacao_61306.html)


I think is time to another brazilian city(could be Rio or Brasilia).

In my opinion,Brasilia(3rd largest Brazil´s airport and TAM/StarAlliance´s hub) would be a great option,since TAM already flys Rio-Frankfurt.

The route Brazil-Germany-Brazil is the 4th largest from to Brazil to Europe,but there only directly flights to 3 brazilians cities and only 26 weekly flights.

Just to compere with Spain(3rd largest european route from/to Brazil)

Passengers/2009

>Spain 637.472
>Germany 591.508


Cities in Brazil

>Spain 5
>Germany 3

Weekly fligths

>Spain(35): 21 São Paulo/7 Rio/4 Salvador/3 Fortaleza and Recife
>Germany(26): 19 São Paulo/5 Rio/2 Salvador

If i understood correctly, the flights to Rio are not being taking into count. So the traffic between Germany and Brazil will be growing.
It wouldn't surprise me if Lufthansa would be sending one of the A380 to GRU in the near future or even add a new flight to the currently 744 operation from Frankfurt.
Paris sees 4 direct flights to Sao Paulo most of the year!!!!

It is still to be seen if TAM will stay in the Star Alliance or will change to One World after the merger with LAN.. that could change a lot of things!!

When will the first B747-8 for Lufthansa arrive?

I believe Buenos Aires is the first destination to be launched with it

Swiss sur un nuage après un transport record de passagers

aviation | Swiss a transporté un nombre record de passagers au cours du mois d'octobre 2010. La compagnie aérienne a accueilli 1,334 million passagers, soit une augmentation de 4,5% en comparaison annuelle.

Swiss n'a jamais transporté autant de passagers qu'en octobre 2010. Le nombre de vols a lui aussi connu une hausse. Il s'est établi à 11'010 en Europe, une hausse de 3,5%, et à 1372 sur le réseau intercontinental (+6,9%). Dans l'ensemble, la progression atteint 3,9%, indique mardi la compagnie aérienne en mains du géant allemand Lufthansa.

Le coefficient d'occupation de 86,5% est similaire à celui d'octobre 2009. En Europe, il a augmenté de 0,9 point à 79,2% et a légèrement baissé de 90,5% à 90,2% au niveau intercontinental.

Au niveau du fret, Swiss WorldCargo a vu son taux de remplissage augmenter en volume. Il a atteint 82,7% en octobre, soit une hausse de 4,6 points par rapport à la même période de l'an passé.

TdG (http://www.tdg.ch/swiss-nuage-transport-record-passagers-2010-11-09)


1.33 million passangers in october, record number
occupation ratio 86,5% for passangers and 82,7% for cargo
:cheers:

Lufthansa Group 8.5 Million Passengers In October
(+ 6.2%)

Individual airlines:
Lufthansa Airlines 5.6 Million Passengers: + 9.6%
Swiss 1.3 Million Passengers: + 4.5%
Austrian Airlines ~ 1 Million Passengers: + 8.4%
British Midland 0.55 Million Passengers: - 20%


Lufthansa Cargo 171,000 Tons (+ 18.6%) (Including daughter companies: 191,000 Tons, + 18,3%)

http://www.aero.de/news/Lufthansa4.html

SR?? Swissair?? It it a joke?? Who is such a genius??

SR?? Swissair?? It it a joke?? Who is such a genius??

Well it was indeed the code for Swissair... and as actually Swissair does no longer exist then the error is understandable. They should change both the name (to SWISS) and code to Crossair's LX, not just the IATA code to LX :nuts:

http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/themen/bogota.html

Source:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/1096266/1/.html

Lufthansa to test biofuels on German flights
Posted: 29 November 2010 2323 hrs

FRANKFURT: Europe's leading airline Lufthansa said on Monday that it will offer regular service between Frankfurt and Hamburg in April with a plane that can use biofuel in addition to jet fuel.

An Airbus A321 will fly four times a day between the two German cities, and half of the fuel to one of two engines will be made up of a synthetic based on vegetable oil, the airline said.

The test is scheduled to last six months.

Air Japan and Air New Zealand have already tested biofuels in their airplanes but Lufthansa said it would be the first carrier to use it on a regular basis.

Lufthansa planned to spend 6.6 million euros (8.7 million dollars) on the project, with government funds accounting for 2.5 million.

The biofuel is to be supplied by a Finnish company and will cost "between three to five times more than kerosene," according to Joachim Buse, who is leading the test.

He told a press conference the use of biofuel should result in the emission of 1,500 tonnes less carbon dioxide over the six-month period.

Lufthansa would like to use biofuels for between five and 10 percent of all consumption by 2020, depending on its availability and market conditions, Buse said.

- AFP/de

46 Eurowings flights canceled due to pilot strike in Germany
26 November 2010

BERLIN (AP) - A German pilots association says 46 flights have been canceled due to a pilots' strike at Eurowings airline.

Pilots association Cockpit told German news agency DAPD on Friday that flights were canceled at Berlin's Tegel airport, in Dresden, Duesseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne and in Nuremberg.

The strike began at 5 a.m. and is expected to last eight hours.

Eurowings, which is a partner of Lufthansa, said that 140 of its 305 pilots were participating in the strike. It was not clear how many passengers were affected by the cancellations.

Eurowings is planning to reduce the number of planes it operates. The striking pilots are demanding better compensation plans for employees who may be affected by layoffs.

Swiss to increase flight frequency from Moscow to Geneva
26 November 2010
SKRIN Newswire

Swiss is going to launch three additional flights per week between Moscow and Geneva during the skiing season in the Alpes. Thus, the number of flights will be increased from 7 to 11. Two additional flights will depart from Moscow on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Return flights are scheduled for Saturdays, Fridays and Sundays. During the New Year's holidays Swiss will launch the flights from Geneva and Zurich and some other additional flights. Source: Aviaport.ru

Lufthansa needs more cargo freighters by 2015

FRANKFURT, Nov 30 (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa's cargo unit will need extra capacity equivalent to six MD-11 freighters by 2015 to meet rising demand, particularly growth into and out of Asia.

Among sectors, the pharmaceutical industry, a major customer for Lufthansa Cargo, will grow around the world in coming years, the cargo unit's management board member Andreas Otto told reporters late on Monday.

Lufthansa Cargo plans to establish a pharmaceutical transport hub in Hyderabad, India, to help meet demand, he said, adding the business cannot rely on gaining capacity via growth of Lufthansa's passenger airlines because new A380 superjumbos add more seat capacity than room for freight.

Lufthansa's cargo unit transports about half of its freight in the cargo hold of passenger planes.

The Asia-Pacific region accounts for almost half the annual volume of air cargo of about 20 million tonnes. China and Hong Kong alone contribute almost 4 million tonnes.

On average, Lufthansa Cargo will need the equivalent of one more MD-11 freighter per year through 2015, Otto said.

Lufthansa Cargo, one of Europe's two biggest air freight carriers along with Air France-KLM , has 18 MD-11 freighters, each with a capacity of just over 90 tonnes.

Otto said it was not yet clear whether Lufthansa Cargo would buy new planes, convert Lufthansa passenger planes into freighters, or lease capacity.

"We are talking about six MD-11 equivalents. That does not mean that we are buying six more MD-11s. That is something we currently have to work out," he said, adding the carrier would seek approval to add capacity next year.

Otto said he saw supply in the cargo industry falling short of demand by 5 percent by 2014, recovering from overcapacity during the global economic crisis. Air cargo companies were buffeted last year as companies reined in spending to weather the downturn.

Global cargo demand fell by 11 percent in 2009, according to industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA).

IATA said last week that freight traffic, which accounts for 35 percent of the value of goods traded internationally, was now 1 percent above pre-crisis levels of early 2008.

Lufthansa, Munich to invest 650 million euros in airport
23 December 2010
AFP

German airline Lufthansa and Munich Airport said Wednesday they will invest heavily to raise capacity at the carrier's hub in southern Germany by more than 40 percent from 2015.

Lufthansa and FMG, the airport's governing body, are to invest 650 million euros (850 million dollars) to build a satellite terminal that would expand annual capacity by 11 million passengers, a statement said.

Terminal 2, to which the structure would be attached, is expected to reach a maximum capacity of 25 million passengers next year, meaning the extension would raise its potential by 44 percent.

The airport is to cover 60 percent of the project's cost, with Lufthansa paying the rest.

Munich is working to close the gap with Frankfurt, Germany's leading airport, but the planned development still requires final approval from the German state of Bavaria and the Munich city council.

Last year, Munich recorded 37.2 million passengers, behind Frankfurt at 50.9 million but well ahead of number three Duesseldorf on 17.8 million.

SAS shares soar on report Lufthansa plans takeover

STOCKHOLM/FRANKFURT, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Shares surged in Scandinavian carrier SAS on Thursday after a report that Lufthansa planned a takeover, giving new buzz to a long talked-of match.

The idea of a takeover has been a recurring theme as SAS, half owned by Denmark, Norway and Sweden, continued to struggle with losses after a series of costly restructuring plans.

"The story has sparked rumours of an imminent bid. With all the buzz on M&A at the moment, any sort of speculation can send a stock through the roof," said one Geneva-based trader.

A person close to Lufthansa said there were no talks between SAS and the German carrier concerning any possible takeover at the moment, chiming with the Lufthansa's most recent statements.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said on Oct. 28 that the carrier would hold off from major acquisitions until it had integrated and turned around recent buys. "There is nothing worth reporting at the moment," he said at the time.

Lufthansa, which bought Austrian Airlines, bmi, and Brussels Airlines last year, has been touted as a possible buyer for SAS as well as Poland's LOT [LOT.UL].

SAS shares, at one point up 15 percent, had climbed 14 percent by 1437 GMT, with Lufthansa stock up 0.8 percent.

SAS shares are down 54 percent this year, against a 23 percent climb in the broad Stockholm index. <.OMXSPI>

"These rumours have come and gone over the years and I do not think there is anything more in them now than there was before," said Fondsfinans analyst Hans Erik Jacobsen in Oslo.

"I do not think it is particularly probable that Lufthansa would want to buy SAS when the situation is so shaky."

HANDS FULL

Traders said the SAS rise came after Bloomberg reported a "person familiar with the matter" as having said Lufthansa may announce takeover plans for SAS as early as the first half of 2011, pending talks with the governments.

Lufthansa, SAS and the Swedish and Norwegian governments declined to comment on the report.

Fund manager Christer Swaretz, head of Swaretz & Partner Fondkommission, said the share rise in SAS was exaggerated by tight liquidity. He also called the share reaction a so-called "dead cat bounce" after the share's decline this year.

"We do not like SAS and we do not think there are grounds for this type of speculation. Now everyone seems to want to believe and hope, but we must look at the general direction and that is a downwards spiral for SAS," he added.

A tie-up with SAS, which is a partner with Lufthansa in the global Star Alliance, would strengthen the airlines' dominance of routes between Germany and Scandinavia and provide feeder traffic for Lufthansa's hubs such as Frankfurt.

But Lufthansa currently still has its hands full trying to turn around bmi and Austrian Airlines, the person close to the carrier said.

Lufthansa Chairman Juergen Weber on Nov. 2 signalled, though, that Lufthansa had not completely lost interest in buying SAS. "The takeover has not worked out so far, but let us wait and see."

I think SAS is too big for Lufthansa to take over it at this moment since it is still dealing with reorganization of Austrian and Brussels Airlines. I see more organic internal growth for the upcoming year such as SWISS' recent statement it will be launching new routes and increasing traffic on existing ones from Geneva's Cointrin airport.

Lufthansa to add 4,000 German jobs in 2011, more than half flight attendants
3 January 2011

BERLIN (AP) - German carrier Lufthansa AG plans to create some 4,000 jobs in Germany during 2011, more than half of them positions for flight attendants.

Lufthansa said in a statement that it was seeking to add some 2,200 employees to its in-flight crews, as well as roughly 900 ground personnel, among others.

Board chairman Christoph Franz said the carrier is expanding because of increased passenger capacity due to more regional routes and the use of the Airbus A380 jumbo jets on long-haul flights.

The news drove Lufthansa shares up 1.77 percent in Monday midmorning trading in Frankfurt, to euro16.65 ($22.25).

Strike by Lufthansa crew at Paris airport disrupts German airline's flights
17 January 2011

BERLIN (AP) - Deutsche Lufthansa AG says a strike by its check-in crew at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport has forced it to cancel flights to and from the French hub.

Lufthansa said it expected to cancel 26 flights to Charles to Gaulle on Monday and the same number of departures.

Airline spokesman Marco Dall'Asta says the company is in a "constructive dialogue" with unions in an effort to resolve the dispute "as soon as possible."

Lufthansa, Cabin Crew Employees End Wage Dispute
20 January 2011

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German air carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), and its cabin crew staff union, or UFO, have reached an agreement to end a wage dispute that had been going on since March 2010, the airline said Wednesday.

The two sides have accepted a proposal by mediator Heide Simonis for the 16,000 cabin crew employees that includes a salary freeze.

For the period until February 2014, the airline promises a gradual improvement of working conditions, and a one-off compensation payment of EUR1,000 for each cabin crew staff member.

Lufthansa Confirms Fuel Cost Estimate For 2011
21 January 2011
Dow Jones International News

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German air carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) confirmed its fuel cost estimate for the year 2011, Lufthansa spokesman Boris Ogursky said Friday to Dow Jones Newswires.

The company still expects fuel costs to rise to about EUR6.5 billion, a figure Chief Financial Officer Stephan Gemkow gave on Jan. 11.

In October, with the release of the company's nine-month results, the company said it expects fuel costs of EUR6 billion.

Lufthansa plans to pass the higher costs on to its customer and therefore will increase its fuel surcharge as of Jan. 25, the spokesman said. For domestic and intra-European routes, the surcharge will rise by EUR2 a flight to EUR26, he added. For long-distance hauls, the surcharge will increase by EUR10 to between EUR92 and EUR107.

This doesn't mean ticket prices for customers will increase, Ogursky said and added that special deals like the EUR99 offers for within Germany and Europe will still remain. "We are in a highly competitive market," he said.

On Thursday, Air Berlin PLC (AB1.XE) already increased its fuel surcharges for short- and medium-distances by EUR3 and for long distance hauls by EUR5/flight, spokeswoman Alexandra Bakir said. The company didn't provide a forecast for fuel costs for the current year but will give such an estimate with the release of its full year 2010 figures in March.

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