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Lufthansa: ‘league of champions’ has room for only three Asian airlines
June 28th 2019
Facts and figures from airline’s Capital Markets Day. Read More »
Lufthansa Group CEO, Carsten Spohr, said he envisions a “champion league” of the top 12 airlines. The league table would include three airlines from Asia and all three of them would be Chinese. Lufthansa has joint ventures with Air China, All Nippon Airways and Singapore Airlines and growing cooperation with Cathay Pacific Airways.
Other carriers in the top 12 global table would be three U.S. airlines, three from the broad Middle East region and three from Europe. There could also be one LCC from the U.S. and one or two in Europe, he said.
“Globalisation in our industry means there is eventually room for 12 players,” Spohr said. “In the end, the 12 of us need to fight that global fight for the industry.”
Sphor told his audience:
* 70% is the share that JVs account of the group’s EUR 13 billion long-haul revenue
* 52% is the percentage that premium classes contribute to long-haul revenue
* 28 is the number of A320 sub-fleets the group has, which it wants to reduce. Asia’s airlines also are looking to simplify their fleets, a goal that partially drove Korean Air to order more 787s. Cathay Pacific wants to reduce its A330 sub-fleets. A new Thai Airways fleet plan would simplify its aircraft types.
* 1 is a single standard for 82 A320neo and 46 A321neo on order, enabling easy transfer between group AOCs.
* Payments need to include more options. “All of us most probably think the credit card is the most modern form of payment we have, which is not the truth, especially if you go to Asia.”
* Leases: “I am convinced there will be more bankruptcies and not all these aircraft coming out of bankruptcy will find new homes in Europe.”
He specifically highlighted pent-up demand for capacity due to the 737 MAX groundings. “When I talk to the leasing companies, they are having better deals to put aircraft into China than putting aircraft into Europe.”
* Catering: Lufthansa expects to complete a sale of European LSG to one of three bidders this year. The sale is taking longer than expected because Lufthansa wants to find a long-term strategic partner to ensure premium catering in its home markets. Lufthansa will sell other LSG units at a later date.
