By Ilona Wissenbach and Joanna Plucinska
FRANKFURT, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Lufthansa plans to capitalize on robust demand in key U.S. markets by expanding transatlantic flights and promoting its new premium seating, its CEO Carsten Spohr told Reuters.
“We have been able to shift our point of sales to almost 60% now coming from the U.S. and only 40% from Europe, which used to be the other way around for many years,” he said in an interview at Lufthansa’s offices in Frankfurt.
Spohr said much of the U.S. expansion has stemmed from smaller cities, as opposed to hubs such as New York.
Lufthansa will, for example, increase its Frankfurt–Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, service to daily flights next year, up from three per week, and expand Frankfurt–St. Louis, Missouri, routes to five weekly flights, up from three.
“It shows the strength of the U.S. market and the interest in flying with European airlines over to Europe,” Spohr said, citing growing business links, including Bayer’s St. Louis offices and with automotive firms in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Lufthansa recently unveiled its new Allegris seat, which Spohr says could allow for double-digit growth in yields for its premium product.
“Rolling out Allegris in Lufthansa … will allow us to take advantage of that focus on premium traffic,” Spohr said.
Lufthansa plans to ramp up capacity on key international long-haul routes next year as it expects to take delivery of a new widebody jet every other week.
Spohr hopes those new planes will help stimulate growth, which has been hampered in recent years by delayed deliveries from planemakers Boeing and Airbus.
The delays have contributed to losses at its core German airline and its share price has lagged competitors Air France-KLM and British Airways-owner IAG as a result.
Spohr said he expects industry demand to remain steady and for ticket prices to either stay stable or grow further given supply constraints.
“I would assume prices to be stable, at least, because you see that the very healthy demand environment around the world in almost all our markets hits a somewhat limited supply due to delayed deliveries of airplanes,” he said.
(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Alexander Smith)
