Germany’s national carrier Lufthansa has announced a major commitment to the country’s capital city Berlin by expanding its operations in the city following the opening of the new Willy Brandt Berlin Brandenburg Airport next year. Its revised network will see it establish a notable base at the airport, where 15 Airbus A320 Family aircraft will be stationed from summer 2012, and will counter the competition it faces in Berlin from its local rival and soon to be oneworld alliance member airberlin.
Lufthansa will offer services on 30 new routes, including the switch of its existing link to Moscow from Domodedovo to Vnukovo Airport and has not ruled out expanding into wider medium- and long-haul markets as early as 2013. “We’re going to expand our presence in a manner that we’ve never done before,” said Carsten Spohr, Chief Executive Officer, Lufthansa Passenger Airline at a press conference this week to detail the growth.
The German flag carrier and Star Alliance member currently has nine A320 Family aircraft operating from Berlin and will invest a reported $630 million in new equipment and facilities to expand. According to Carsten Spohr, new recruits will be paid about 20 per cent less than existing staff at its Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich hubs and this will enable the investment to secure a return within just a couple of years.
"We're demonstrating with this new positioning that Lufthansa can be profitable on domestic and European routes with competitive cost structures and doesn't need to fear low-cost rivals," noted Carsten Spohr, adding that this strategy could become a blueprint for other operations outside its main hubs.
The new destinations from Berlin comprise regular links (at least three weekly frequencies) to Barcelona, Beirut, Birmingham, Bologna, Bucharest, Geneva, Helsinki, Istanbul, Izmir, Lyon, Manchester, Milan Linate, Palma de Mallorca, Rome, Split, Stockholm, Vienna and Zagreb. Less frequent services will also be offered to Bastia, Bergen, Catania, Dubrovnik, Keflavik, Malaga, Nice, Sylt, Tel Aviv, Valencia and Zadar. Lufthansa already offers flights from berlin to Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Nuremburg, Stuttgart and international links to London Heathrow, Paris CDG and Moscow Domodedovo.
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