New Delhi: With Jet Airways shutting down in April, the Lufthansa airline group is planning to ‘strengthen’ its position in the Indian market and is open to partnerships with companies like Vistara and Air India in 2020, the top Indian official of the largest European carrier said.
Moreover, apart from launching a Munich-Bangalore flight service in April, the airline does not plan to start any other flight service in 2020, George Ettiyil, senior director, South Asia, Lufthansa Group, informed Sunday.
Currently, the Lufthansa airline group has an interline agreement with Vistara, which allows a passenger to check-in his luggage at the first airport itself for the whole journey consisting of flights of both airlines.
“With Vistara…we are strengthening our relationship in the weeks to come. Jet Airways was one of our partners here in India and with them having left the scene, we are looking for Indian airlines to partner up with,” Ettiyil told this agency.
Asked if Lufthansa was planning to convert its interline agreement with Vistara to a codeshare agreement, Ettiyil said, “We are trying to strengthen it. Let us see what the future holds in store. We have the desire to actually strengthen partnerships with other Indian airlines also. So, Vistara is an obvious choice.”
The European carrier has a codeshare agreement with Air India, which allows one airline’s passenger to book a ticket on the other airline, using the first one’s ticketing system. The Indian government is planning to sell Air India to a private player by March next year.
“For 2020, the Lufthansa group will be trying to strengthen our Indian partnerships so that Indian carriers can bring passengers from second and third-tier cities to our four gateways,” Ettiyil stated.
Two brands of the group – Lufthansa and Swiss – operate flight services to India. Swiss has daily non-stop flights connecting Zurich to Delhi and Mumbai. Lufthansa operates daily non-stop flights connecting Frankfurt to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, as also daily non-stop flights connecting Munich to Delhi and Mumbai. From April 1, 2020, Lufthansa will start a five-days-a-week flight service, connecting Munich and Bangalore.
“We currently do not have any immediate plans to grow in terms of adding flight capacity,” Ettiyil said. “We have seen a continuous growth over the past four years of India’s share on our aircraft. We are trying to grow by allowing more Indian-origin passengers on our aircraft. We have no other plans of any other further flights for 2020,” added the executive.
PTI
