Aviador

Administrator
Staff member
Subscriber
Jan 12, 2009
17,723
373
HEAD OFFICE
United-Kingdom
Fewer Luftansa passengers through Birmingham

German airline Lufthansa had its wings clipped last year with a dip in passenger numbers flying to and from Birmingham.

The company reported a drop of 1.2 per cent in the number of people it carried through Birmingham International Airport for 2008, down to 411,578 from 416,649 the year before.

But bosses at the global airline called the performance “excellent” as it came against a backdrop of shrinking demand for flights throughout the world.

Lufthansa general manager for the UK and Ireland Marianne Sammann said: “They are very positive against the overall trend in the market.”

She said the airline had put in an especially strong performance for passenger numbers on its Asia Pacific routes, which nearly doubled last year.

But Lufthansa’s drop in passenger figures last year contrasts sharply with the overall number of people taking flights from Birmingham International Airport in 2008.

Last year the airport reported record passenger numbers - an increase of 4.2 per cent over 2007 figures. But Ms Sammann said the figures did not reflect badly on Lufthansa – it was likely most of the growth seen by Birmingham was down to low-cost carriers, not airlines like Lufthansa.

Source
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #2
[textarea]Lufthansa highlights growth in Birmingham – China traffic

Trips to China are helping boost passenger numbers on flights out of Birmingham Airport in a sign that the recession may have bottomed out . Business travel is also enjoying an upsurge, German airline Lufthansa revealed.

Business travel, especially in the automotive and financial services sectors, is enjoying an upturn following a late summer, early autumn jump in numbers, despite overall figures around 30 percent down for 2009, Lufthansa reports. And the Far East is proving a popular destination, with demand to China from Birmingham up by about 16 percent on last year. Lufthansa is picking up nearly a fifth of that traffic, travelling via its German hub.

Source[/textarea]
 
[textarea]Beijing is Lufthansa's most popular connection from Birmingham

Beijing is now the most popular destination for travellers from Birmingham Airport flying with Lufthansa, the Birmingham Mail reports. The Chinese capital has overtaken Delhi as number one destination for passengers, as the country continues its development as a huge worldwide power.

Travellers to China from Birmingham, connecting via the Frankfurt link, were up 63.5 percent year on year. Beijing currently tops the list of connections from Birmingham via Frankfurt, followed by Mumbai, Delhi and Hong Kong. The top European destination is Prague, with other popular routes including Hamburg, Nuremburg, Vienna, Dresden and Graz.

For more information on this airport news story visit: http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top- ... z1q1NeDRJG[/textarea]
 
Lufthansa are reducing the Hamburg service this winter to six weekly, Sunday-Friday only. Down from 11 weekly this summer. Departure time ex BHX is 14.45.

Flybe finish this route in a couple of weeks.
 
Looks like we might be losing Lufthansa on the Berlin route if this article is to be believed. If true I imagine Hamburg and Dusseldorf could also be affected.

Lufthansa will create budget brand to cut costs in Europe

In a bid to save money on its short-haul routes, German airline Lufthansa will unveil a new budget airline with effect from January 1 next year.

At a meeting of the carrier’s Board of Directors today (September 19) it was decided to create a new budget brand which would take over operation of all Lufthansa domestic and European routes with the exception of those services which connect with the carriers twin hubs of Frankfurt and Munich.

It means that the carrier’s current budget airline, German Wings, will be absorbed into the new entity which is set to carry 18 million passengers a year.

According to reports on Reuters a decision on what to call the new budget operation will be made within the coming months. And there are as yet no details of what in-flight service passengers may receive. Neither is there any indication of what fares or (perhaps) ancillary fees passengers may have to pay.

Typical routes from the UK over which the new low-cost carrier will operate include: London to Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart along with Birmingham and Manchester to Berlin

Lufthansa is currently engaged in a huge cost-cutting programme which has identified savings of over Euros 1 billion.

As businesstraveller.com has already reported, Lufthansa is set to axe its Munich-Singapore-Jakarta service and is currently examining the viability of operating to Bangkok. In the case of the UK, Lufthansa has or is about to cancel routes such as London Gatwick-Frankfurt and London City-Munich.

As reported above, services into Frankfurt and Munich will not form part of the new budget carrier’s network. That is because they are considered feeder services and, naturally, Lufthansa would want to give a good impression to connecting passengers, some of whom may have paid large sums of money for their first and business class long-haul tickets.

Other European carriers have also attempted to cut costs by forming low-cost offshoots, witness Cityjet of Air France, KLM’s Cityhopper and BA’s Cityflyer.

The difference is that not only do the above-named airlines act as conventional carriers (providing passengers with free snacks, drinks and baggage check) but in addition Lufthansa has a broader European network and so this decision to create a new budget brand will have a bigger impact on passengers.

What Lufthansa will action from next January is sure to change the short-haul business models currently being operated by its rivals as all airlines are keen to keep operating costs as low as possible.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/l ... -cut-costs
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #6
"Typical routes from the UK over which the new low-cost carrier will operate include: London to Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart along with Birmingham and Manchester to Berlin"

It looks like the routes will continue with the new low cost arm of Lufthansa
 
Some positive stuff coming from Lufthansa with BHX "outperforming all other UK airports for Lufthansa in terms of growth" :smile:

Lufthansa sings Birmingham Airport’s praises and targets further growth

GERMAN airline Lufthansa says it is delighted with the passenger numbers on its new routes out of Birmingham Airport and that it may consider expanding its operation there.

The carrier said Birmingham is outperforming all other UK airports for Lufthansa in terms of growth.

Christian Schindler, the airline’s director for the UK and Ireland, told TheBusinessDesk.com that demand for the re-launched Birmingham to Hamburg route - which got under way in May - and the new Birmingham to Berlin route, which started in June, has surpassed all expectations.

“There is growing interest in Berlin for city breaks, as a cultural destination and as a conference venue,” he said. “Hamburg is a more mixed route with more corporate passengers.”

It is flying to Hamburg 12 times a week from Birmingham while the Berlin flight is daily.

Schindler said the carrier is hoping to build on its success at the local airport.

“Birmingham Airport is a great opportunity for us,” he said. “It is a very good airport with a good infrastructure.”

Schindler’s comments came on the day that the carrier announced it is to put some of its short haul routes together with Germanwings under a new low-cost airline.

Lufthansa says it will merge many of its European and domestic routes under a new low cost brand as it seeks to boost profits.

The company's flights within Germany and Europe, excluding those from the Frankfurt and Munich hubs, will be merged with its existing low-cost brand Germanwings from next year.

Lufthansa is currently undergoing a £1.2bn cost-cutting programme to offset rising fuel costs and make it more competitive.

Its decision to reorganise its short-haul routes under the new brand follows a series of strikes by Lufthansa workers over pay and conditions.

http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidl ... ion=19036#
 
More good stuff from Lufthansa.

Lufthansa enjoys growth in business customers going from Birmingham

The flights to Lufthansa’s hubs at Munich and Frankfurt are attractive to the West Midlands business community, as from there they can access flights on to destinations across Europe and worldwide.

Christian Schindler, Lufthansa director for UK and Ireland, said that the Indian business community in the West Mildands was increasingly making use of the Birmingham-Frankfurt route to take advantage of flights to Bangalore and Delhi using the world’s longest passenger airliner the Boeing 747-8. The business class ticket launched this year includes a 6ft 6in long bed.

Mr Schindler said that Lufthansa, the second biggest operator out of Birmingham Airport, had seen passenger numbers rise 16.84 per cent in the year to the end of August to 374,310. Lst year the number carried from Birmingham was 484,503, which was up 18.65 per cent on 2010.

As a result extra capacity has been put on this year including bigger aircraft on the service to Muich, the re-introduction of a service to Hamburg in May and at the beginning of June the launch of a new daily service to Berlin starting from £39 one way.

“We are very happy with the Berlin route. It has been a huge success and full from the first day,” said Mr Schindler.

The bulk of passengers have mainly been city break leisure travellers, but an increasing number are using it for conferences and business meetings.

“The router is competitvely priced and everthing is included with no extra charges from checkm in, food and drink. It offers no surprises,” added Mr Schindler.

He said Lufthansa was very positive about Birmingham Airport and believed it had the space for further growth in the long term and was a very “convenient” airport compared to heathrow.

It has been flying out of the airport since 1986 and is now operating 83 flights a week with a service also to Dusseldorf.

“Frankfurt is the most served route because it offers most connections.Both Frankfurt and Munich offer seamless connection services to our customers.

“More than half of passengers flying Lufthansa from Birmingham are flying on,” he explained.

Lufthansa, which shares its desk at Birmingham with subsidiaries Brussels Airlines and partner Swiss Airlines,flies a range of aircraft out of the city airport including the Airbus 320, new 16-sesat Embraer and Boeing 737.

A growing number of ticket sales for Lufthansa’s Birmingham services are taking place online.

“Every second ticket in the UK is now bought online and out smartphone “ap” means people can download their tickets on to their phones and use it to check in and then get their boarding card on the phone as well.

“It is making the service we offer much more efficient for our customers. We are now able to ring back passengers who have booked online in the event of any delays or problems.

“We are using technology to further improve the passenger experience and take the stress our of travelling,” enthused Mr Schindler.

UK travellers also voted Lufthansa as their favourite short haul leisure airline in the Condé Nast Traveller 15th Annual Readers’ Travel Awards, awarding the airline top marks for punctuality, efficiency, service and staff.

Those flying to Berlin with Lufthansa can also take advantage of its Be Local offer which provides continually changing discounts and special offers at restaurants and shops in the city.

http://www.expressandstar.com/business/ ... irmingham/
 
Lufthansa are planning to up Berlin from an A319 to an A320 during the week next summer, the A319 will remain on weekends.
 
Lufthansa to be merged with Germanwings from Jan 1st next year serving flights to everywhere outside Frankfurt and Munich. The BHX-Berlin service which was due to be upgraded to an A320 looks to be back to the A319 with a CRJ on weekends. Hamburg also sees less capacity from last summer. Still early days though and plenty of time for a (hopeful) change.

The link below has a picture of the new livery, I must say I do like it.

New Germanwings available to customers from July 2013

The “new” Germanwings launches on January 1, but customers will not see changes to the product or livery until July 1 next year.

The carrier will operate all non-hub flights (Lufthansa will continue to operate those flights departing Frankfurt and Munich) throughout Europe on behalf of Lufthansa, offering three different products: Basic, Smart and Best.

Basic is the low-cost model fare and offers a seat only with prices starting from €33 one way, with food and hold luggage available to be purchased seperately.

The Smart fare offers preferable seating from rows four to 11 with a larger seat pitch of 32 inches and a complimentary snack, non-alcoholic drink and hold bag of up to 23kg.

Best is the full service option from Germanwings and includes preferred seating in rows 1-3 with the middle seat left unsold, as is the case with full fare Lufthansa short-haul services. A reserved hand luggage compartment is available to Best customers, and two hold bags of up to 23kg each can be checked in. Other benefits include priority check-in and boarding as well as fast lane security and lounge access, a la carte catering, flexible rebooking and ticket cancellations.

Passengers travelling with Germanwings will be able to earn either Boomerang or Miles and More frequent flyer points and passengers in the Best fare category will earn double miles, including Honor Circle.

The new Germanwings will be amalgamated with Lufthansa fon January 1, with customers being able to experience the new products from July 1, 2013, from which point aircraft in the Lufthansa fleet due to join the “new Germanwings” will also be gradually converted and transferred.

Lufthansa has earmarked €30 million towards the rebranding effort. This includes repainting aircraft with a new livery, which incorporates the yellow of Lufthansa with the purple of Germanwings, and making adjustments to some of the seating products to create a homogenised onboard product across the Germanwings fleet. The rebranding process is expected to be completed by March 2014.

Star Alliance status holders should note that Germanwings is not expected to join the alliance in any form.

This should not be an issue for hub services linking with Asia and the US through Munich and Frankfurt as these will remain full service Lufthansa, so Star Alliance privileges will be maintained on feeder services.

However as our consumer editor Alex McWhirter pointed out in his piece last week, those Star Alliance passengers subsequently taking flights outside of the carrier’s hubs may find their status privileges are not valid.

Christoph Franz, chairman of the executive board at Lufthansa says that market pressures from low-cost carriers, aggressive state owned carriers and the record high price of kerosene left Lufthansa with only two strategic options for its non-hub European services.

One was to abandon the regions and concentrate on hub services. Franz joked that the competition, namely British Airways, has gone down this route, and might now be called “Heathrow Airways“.

Instead Lufthansa has decided to concentrate on the offering for its dense, non-hub network and the transfer over to a low-cost model with Germanwings was the decided solution.

“With the ‘new Germanwings’ we are going on the offensive in respect of point-to-point connections“ says Franz. “We have developed a convincing array of products and have many years of experience in the low-cost and premium segments."

Around 1,000 Lufthansa staff are expected to transfer over to Germanwings in the new year to support the changes to the carrier.

For more information visit germanwings.com.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/n ... s-from-jul
 
Reports on another forum are that Lufthansa loads to/from Munich are largely unaffected by by Monarch. Apparently this mornings inbound was 100% full with the oversold pax having to wait behind in Munich. I wonder if the loads for Monarch have improved as we get closer to ski season.
 
ray finkle said:
Reports on another forum are that Lufthansa loads to/from Munich are largely unaffected by by Monarch. Apparently this mornings inbound was 100% full with the oversold pax having to wait behind in Munich. I wonder if the loads for Monarch have improved as we get closer to ski season.

That's interesting Ray. I can only imagine the Lufthansa flights get more interlining and business passengers whereas Monarch will be predominantly leisure. I suppose German passengers will also be more inclined to use Lufthansa as opposed to Monarch.
 
Well this person seems to be a semi regular traveller on the MUC route with Lufthansa and reports were that loads took a short term hit when Monarch started but soon recovered. The reports also suggest that on certain days the loads are made up of mostly BMW employees so there's possible a contract between the two.
 
You quite possibly right with that Ray. In the days prior to the banking crisis the Halifax used to have some sort of arrangement with BMI Regional to transport people between Edinburgh & Glasgow and Leeds. The passengers used to call it the 'Halifax express'.
 
[textarea]Lufthansa consolidates after year of strong growth in Birmingham

GERMAN airline Lufthansa has seen a second year of strong growth in passenger volumes at Birmingham Airport.However, the carrier has warned growth is likely to be much harder this year given the on-going economic conditions.

Full Story: http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidl ... ion=19036#[/textarea]
 
Further to the above, from the Birmingham Post.

Motor industry connections put Birmingham Airport top for Lufthansa

The thriving automotive sector in the West Midlands has helped German airline Lufthansa achieve record passenger levels at Birmingham Airport.

Birmingham Airport was top UK performer for growth in 2012 for Lufthansa, following an increase of around 21 per cent to an all-time high annual total of over 586,000.

Christian Schindler, the airline’s general manager UK and Ireland, said the West Midlands car industry, with Jaguar Land Rover creating thousands of new jobs at the Jaguar plant at Castle Bromwich and Land Rover at Solihull, was playing a key role in the substantial passenger rise.

“It has been a buoyant but challenging market but we have fared much better than the market," he said. "Birmingham saw 21 per cent passenger growth compared to 2011.

“The Birmingham market likes Lufthansa and Lufthansa likes the Birmingham market. Most of the traffic is from the UK to Germany, with Frankfurt and Munich the most popular routes.

“You have the connections between the two powerhouses of Europe, UK and Germany, and there is a lot of contact between German and British industry.”

Mr Schindler said the car industry was a key factor in the passenger growth from Birmingham, particularly to the likes of Germany and Austria.

“I would say that this is down to automotive. We have a lot of small to medium-sized firms in Germany that supply big firms.Our corporate travel can only flourish if business is working – if business is not working, there is no travel.

“It proves our commitment to Birmingham was fully justified when we added services to Hamburg and Berlin during 2012.

“As well as offering passengers easy access to many of the main German cities, we continue to ensure that our flights to and from Birmingham offer the shortest possible onward connection times to our worldwide network through our hubs of Frankfurt and Munich.

“Our most popular onward destinations for passengers from Birmingham include Jeddah, Delhi, Beijing, Moscow, Johannesburg.”

http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingha ... -32917086/
 
Rise in Lufthansa airport passengers at Birmingham Airport

26 Sep 2013 07:37

The region’s airport was top UK performer for growth for Lufthansa, last year, following an increase of around 21 per cent to an all-time high annual total of over 586,000, boosted by the automotive sector

Lufthansa has seen a nine per cent rise in passengers from Birmingham – as more people head east to travel west.

The region’s airport was top UK performer for growth for Lufthansa, last year, following an increase of around 21 per cent to an all-time high annual total of over 586,000, boosted by the automotive sector.

That trend continued in the year to August 31 this year, which saw a further nine per cent rise, outperforming the market in Birmingham that has seen the airport grow to serve more than nine million passengers in a year.

UK and Ireland director Christian Schindler said the boost had come from growing traffic to South America and the US, travelling via Frankfurt and Brussels.

He said: “Most of our business is from Birmingham to Europe, that is the biggest portion of traffic, but we are seeing growth from people travelling to the North Atlantic and South Atlantic. It is interesting, because you wouldn’t imagine people travelling in that direction, but we offer very convenient connections.

“We are seeing, for example, growth in flights to Colombia and Brazil, as well as Caracas, and the US across the board.”

Lufthansa offers links to more than 200 countries from Birmingham, and has seen a rise in flights to China in recent years.

This comes against a backdrop of rising demand for flights direct to China from Birmingham – which will become possible with a runway extension, which has been given the green light by the airport’s board.

Mr Schindler said Birmingham had proven a good fit for the carrier, with the growing automotive industry – boosted by a resurgent Jaguar Land Rover – accounting for a rise in business activity.

He said: “For us it is a perfect place. There is a lot of industry around here and it is a very accessible airport by rail and car. Operationally, it is a stable and punctual airport, and we have a very good relationship with the airport.”

However, amid the Davies Commission’s investigation into how to deal with under-capacity in UK airports, Mr Schindler said Birmingham did not offer a solution to problems in London.

He said: “Birmingham can’t take the growth from London, but it can take from the Midlands. That is what we have been seeing in the past few years.”

Lufthansa’s growth comes as Birmingham Airport celebrated passenger numbers rising to nine million in the year to September. That represented two per cent growth and came after more than one million people passed through in August.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, said: “These passenger figures clearly demonstrate there is strong demand for flights from Birmingham. We’ve seen a period of sustained growth throughout the past 12 months, welcoming nine million passengers to the airport.”

Meanwhile, Lufthansa is switching its flights to Berlin and Hamburg over to its value service Germanwings. It flies to Berlin seven times a week and Hamburg six times a week.

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/busines ... um=twitter
 
Good news for Lufthansa but this comment stands out to me....

Most of our business is from Birmingham to Europe, that is the biggest portion of traffic,

...it shows that there are still glaring holes in the BHX European network. Madrid, Lisbon, Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Oslo to name but a few.

It is good however that they are seeing a rise in connections to both North and South America. Hopefully TAP will show an interest and consider BHX in the future for South American connections and if numbers to North America are rising it can only help BHX's quest for a new route to the US, although I don't expect to see anything soon.

Lufthansa seem to do well on BHX-China, I think I remember reading Beijing has overtaken Delhi and Mumbai as the most popular connection via FRA.
 
Quite a few A321's have been used to FRA over the last week or so, MUC has also seen the odd upgrade from the E195 to an A320.
 

Upload Media

Upgrade Your Account

Subscribe to help support your favourite forum and in return we'll remove all our advertisements. Your contribution will help to pay for things like site maintenance, domain name renewals and annual server charges.



Forums4aiports
Subscribe

NEW - Profile Posts

9 trips in 9 days done 70 miles walked and over 23-00 photos taken with a large number taken at 20mph or above. Heavy rain on 1 day only
5 trips done and 45 miles walked,. Also the RAF has had 4 F35B Lightning follow me yesterday and today....
My plans got altered slightly as one of the minibus companies had to cancel 3 trips and refunded me but will be getting nice discount when I rebook them.
wondering why on my "holidays" I choose to get up 2 hours earlier than when going to work. 6 trips in 6 days soon coming up with 3 more days to sort out

Trending Hashtags

Advertisement

Back
Top Bottom
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock