Source: ATW Daily News Author: Kurt Hofmann 04/04/2008
Subject Concerned: Opinion Airlines
Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said the economic and industry downturn predicted by many, including IATA, likely will not have a significant effect on the German company.
"Lufthansa started very well this year," he said this week in Istanbul. "We have invested carefully for the future." He said LH's flexibility will enable it to weather any crisis. "We have flexible contracts with our employees, so we can adapt very fast to any new scenario." For example, if revenue drops by 3%, there are contractual terms that he said would produce positive results within three months.
Mayrhuber also said that the advent of open skies has not changed LH's cautious outlook about adding flights from outside Germany to the US. "We have many options, of course, but we have enough business in our own market," he told this website, adding that he will wait and see how competitors like British Airways and Air France fare on their new transatlantic services. "When we grow, we will only grow profitably," he said.
Of particular interest is its investment in New York-based JetBlue Airways. "We are currently figuring out all the synergies we can create with this cooperation," he said, noting "nine points" on which the airlines will concentrate during a "first phase."