The core company of the Lufthansa Group was honored as the best airline in Europe this Tuesday in Paris and thus passed the previous European champion Turkish Airlines. The British market research institute Skytrax had previously surveyed some 18 million passengers from over 160 countries worldwide.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr thanked his employees for their commitment and set further goals. “I hope this is the prelude to the five-star airline,” he told the media. So far, Lufthansa has had to contend with four Skytrax stars, among other things because lastly the pilot strikes had scratched the reliability nimbus. This conflict is almost ruled out, even though no collective bargaining has yet been signed.
Globally, only nine airlines carry this highest assessment level, which Lufthansa has been striving for years. If it were successful, it would be the first European airline with five stars. Currently, it was ranked 7th in the global ranking, while Qatar Airways regained the top spot lost to Emirates last year.
Last week, Lufthansa announced plans to cut more positions in management than previously planned. Instead of the planned 15 percent, 19 percent of the management positions are now likely to be reduced. The manager was also positively surprised by the ongoing business. Demand in the US and China is better than expected. The terrorist attacks in Great Britain had so far not affected the bookings.
Whether the development of demand could drive the profit forecast of the company, Spohr did not want to say. To date, the Lufthansa management expects the Group’s operating profit (adjusted EBIT) to be slightly below the previous year’s 1.75 billion euros. The IATA had raised its earnings forecast for airlines worldwide on Monday from 29.8 to 31.4 billion US dollars for 2017. This is however less than the 34.8 billion from the previous year.
Already, Spohr again gave a cancellation to the Italian airline Alitalia. However, he is thinking about taking over the start and landing rights as well as the aircraft of the one-time state-run line in the event of an insolvency of Alitalia. Alitalia is looking for a failed restructuring plan under special management and is looking for a buyer.
