LH*/LX*/OS*/WW/4U | Lufthansa-Group Carriers

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/565/5656756.html

[Vicvin86]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UskMKGdJOQ

[everywhere]

Swiss/Austrian seeks ATI approval to join ANA/LH Japan-Europe JV
(WCARN.com/ATW Daily News, July 13)

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has filed an application with the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for antitrust immunity (ATI) to add Swiss International Air Lines (LX) and Austrian Airlines (OS), both Lufthansa Group carriers, to its Japan-Europe joint venture (JV) with Lufthansa (LH).

According to ANA, the expanded bilateral JV between LH Group and ANA "will offer customers greater convenience and improved access to intra-Europe routes."

more: http://www.wcarn.com/cache/news/20/20301.html



SWISS Earns Top Honours for Its Business Class Catering
(WCARN.com, July 13)

Swiss International Air Lines has taken first place in the "Best Business Class Catering" category in this year's Skytrax World Airline Awards. The annual industry distinctions are based on a survey of several million air travellers by the UK-based Skytrax consultancy company.

Over 18 million air travellers from more than 100 countries have voted SWISS the carrier with the best Business Class catering in the 2012 Skytrax World Airline Awards. SWISS formally received the distinction during the biennial Farnborough International Airshow in the UK.

"We are delighted to see that the high quality of our inflight product is so appreciated by our customers," says Frank Maier, Head of Product & Services at SWISS. "Our on-board cuisine and our specifically Swiss service aspirations are key elements in our overall positioning as The Airline of Switzerland. And with our 'SWISS Taste of Switzerland' inflight catering concept for First and Business Class on intercontinental routes and our 'SWISS Traditions' product for Business Class in Europe, we strive to offer our guests an optimum of culinary variety, originality and regional flair."

more: http://www.wcarn.com/cache/news/20/20312.html



Austrian Airlines begins Airbus switch from Boeing
(WCARN.com/Reuters, July 13)

Austrian Airlines has begun its switch from Boeing 737 to Airbus 320 planes for medium-haul flights, it said on Friday, as it streamlines its fleet as part of an accelerated restructuring under owner Lufthansa.

The loss-making airline said it had signed a letter of intent for five A320s and had already taken delivery of another two, and expected the first of the new fleet to be in service by mid-October 2012.

Austrian Airlines is implementing deep cost cuts as the price of Lufthansa's support for its fleet upgrade, and hopes to return to profit this year.

more: http://www.wcarn.com/cache/news/20/20298.html

[everywhere]

Lufthansa axes Jakarta and Singapore from Munich
(WCARN.com/Business Traveller Asia, July 23)

After October 14, Lufthansa will drop its direct flight between Munich and Jakarta which stops en route in Singapore.
Currently Lufthansa serves both Asian cities five times a week from Munich with an A340-300.


"We regret that Lufthansa will no longer connect these two Asian cities with Munich," says Thomas Kluehr, the Executive Board member in charge of Munich Services.

more: http://www.wcarn.com/cache/news/20/20485.html

[KingNick]

OS finally upgrades their long haul fleet for € 80 Million. About damn time...

http://www.format.at/articles/1230/9...-betten-videos

[YU-AMC]

Originally Posted by KingNick

OS finally upgrades their long haul fleet for € 80 Million. About damn time...

http://www.format.at/articles/1230/9...-betten-videos

Updating two decades old 767 airframe?

[Momo1435]

That's clearly the Lufthansa influence here, LH did also upgraded their 737 Classic fleet after all.

It would be better if they started an actual fleet renewal, but I guess LH first wants to improve the financial performance of the airline before investing in new (or newer 2nd hand) metal.

[KingNick]

Originally Posted by YU-AMC

Updating two decades old 767 airframe?

They should be scraped instead, yes.

[YU-AMC]

Originally Posted by Momo1435

That's clearly the Lufthansa influence here, LH did also upgraded their 737 Classic fleet after all.

It would be better if they started an actual fleet renewal, but I guess LH first wants to improve the financial performance of the airline before investing in new (or newer 2nd hand) metal.

Yeah but it's not the same thing to fly 737 on short flights and a B767 on a 9 hour flight from Vienna to YYZ. Especially during rough canadian winters creating strong headwinds. No wonder why many B757 had to make fuel stop in Halifax.(Atlantic Canada)

Originally Posted by KingNick

They should be scraped instead, yes.

I think Lufthansa is trying to keep them alive in longhaul business. So they are basically buying time before they have to make up their mind. I have the feeling that Austrian is in deep mess. Their longhaul network is getting smaller and smaller. The only positive thing is new terminal in Vienna.

[sonnyville]

Accident in IAD involving an LH A330. Clipped a smaller plane causing damage to both aircrafts. These accidents have been more frequent in US airports lately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBjLqSUGHk8

[Momo1435]

This kind of accidents happen too often the last couple of years.

Originally Posted by YU-AMC

Yeah but it's not the same thing to fly 737 on short flights and a B767 on a 9 hour flight from Vienna to YYZ. Especially during rough canadian winters creating strong headwinds. No wonder why many B757 had to make fuel stop in Halifax.(Atlantic Canada)

What have the 757 to do with it, yes they are starting to become old but the fuel stops are a calculated risk because the 757 was never designed to do transatlantic flights. If a 767 has a good hard product it's a good enough plane to fly 9 hours, it's not even close to the max. range of a 767-300ER.

My comparison between the 767 and LHs 737 classic was more economical, since there are ofcourse other planes on the market that would be cheaper to operate with the high fuel prices the last couple of years. Even 2nd hand 737 NG or A320s, or A330s for Austrian would give better economics. But I guess the costs of changing types is too high right now.

[YU-AMC]

Originally Posted by Momo1435

This kind of accidents happen too often the last couple of years.


What have the 757 to do with it, yes they are starting to become old but the fuel stops are a calculated risk because the 757 was never designed to do transatlantic flights. If a 767 has a good hard product it's a good enough plane to fly 9 hours, it's not even close to the max. range of a 767-300ER.

My comparison between the 767 and LHs 737 classic was more economical, since there are ofcourse other planes on the market that would be cheaper to operate with the high fuel prices the last couple of years. Even 2nd hand 737 NG or A320s, or A330s for Austrian would give better economics. But I guess the costs of changing types is too high right now.

Hmm that's the issue right there because that's the theory. In practice it's a different ball game. Two decade old 767s tend to be very unreliable. That's what the Aliatlia first officer told me. Once they sold their newer B767, they got stuck with a few older frames, and they have to send in a B777 sometimes as a sub. Pushing a B767 to its range is asking for trouble. Just look at Aeroflot and their LAX service. They got A330 to do LAX and Asia while the older B767 used to fly to east coast.

[Momo1435]

Flying transatlantic with a 767 is not pushing it to it's range. The Americans send many 767s, also one with the same age as the Austrian ones over the ocean every single day.

The big problem is, as we both already mentioned that it's not going to great with Austrian. That's also the reason why the 767s will now get a cabin overhaul. The future is too uncertain to add younger aircraft, but if they don't update the existing fleet there won't be any customers left.

[YU-AMC]

Originally Posted by Momo1435

Flying transatlantic with a 767 is not pushing it to it's range. The Americans send many 767s, also one with the same age as the Austrian ones over the ocean every single day.

The big problem is, as we both already mentioned that it's not going to great with Austrian. That's also the reason why the 767s will now get a cabin overhaul. The future is too uncertain to add younger aircraft, but if they don't update the existing fleet there won't be any customers left.

Transatlnatic is meant for a 767, so yeah. I thought you meant ultra long haul flights over transatlantic.

[YU-AMC]

Originally Posted by Momo1435

The big problem is, as we both already mentioned that it's not going to great with Austrian. That's also the reason why the 767s will now get a cabin overhaul. The future is too uncertain to add younger aircraft, but if they don't update the existing fleet there won't be any customers left.

The gulf carriers took the bigger pie. They took their Southern/Asian pax and Austrian got stuck with eastern/central europe thiny markets which are fragmented because of economical/political issues, as well as star monopoly. Nothing lasts forever.

[Momo1435]

All of the European airlines will have to react to the new competition from the middle east, that will be a big challenge.

Austrian might even be in a position where it could overcome this since they are now in a big restructuring operation that they can use to find the best way to stay afloat with this new competition on the market. Interestingly enough Austrian did make a small profit in the 1st half of 2012 after making a loss in 2011. Lufthansa went from a profit to a loss, and Swiss had a profit that was significantly lower then 2011.

It's going to be hard to keep this up of course since the market remains difficult. But it's good start to have the results turned completely around for a change. Lufthansa will have to see first that the airline has turned around before starting to make some bigger investment in the future of Austrian. As for the replacements of the 767 they will have to wait until Lufthansa orders new planes to replace their own and the Swiss A340-300s

[krnboy1009]

Isnt Austrian moving all of their regional operations to Tyrolean Airline? For some reason it will save them money allegedly. Anyone can tell me how?

[Momo1435]

Austrian Airlines has moved all the flight operations to Tyrolean Airways, including personal and the fleet (except for 1 777 due to traffic right issues).

They will reduce the costs because with the transfer of all the employees they will lose some of the rights they had at Austrian. The personal won't have a direct reduction of their salaries but the salaries are frozen for the next few years. New personal will also be cheaper as they will get smaller starting salaries. Therefor this will be a progressive budget cut that will start to reduce the costs over the next couple of years.

[RTM84]

Lufthansa will launch 2x daily flights from Munich to Rotterdam as from October 1st.
This route will be operated by a CRJ700

As far is i have learned from local sources in Rotterdam, the flight booking are at a decent level. LH is realy statisfied. Let's hope for the best.

[Vaud]

SWISS will open a new (or rather, again) base in Geneva.

Tribune de Genève: La compagnie crée une base opérationnelle à Genève-Cointrin dotée d'une équipe, d'une organisation et d'une flotte propres.

According to the news personnel in the airport will be incrased from 81 nowadays to 320, 90 of whom will be pilots and will be using the new C-Series airplanes.