Eight-month figures show some of the highest growth for airline worldwide (450 words)

Published: 9/28/2000

It appears that the bullish anticipation of volume recovery made by Lufthansa on traffic in Russia and the CIS at the beginning of 2000 may be bearing up. The airline reports that in the period of 1st January - 31st August 2000 Lufthansa carried 386,880 passengers between Germany and Russia and 574,080 between Germany and CIS - an increase of 20.8% and 16.2% over the same period in 1999.The passenger load factor also grew on the routes between Germany and Russia and between Germany and CIS by 13.9% and 13.3% over the period. According to Ulrich G. Rueger, Regional Director for Russia and CIS “The results of the current year in Russia and CIS have exceeded our expectations - the passenger number increase between Russia and Germany of about 20.8% is one of the highest growth rates Lufthansa has worldwide.” To attract additional Russian and CIS passengers, Lufthansa plans to increase its e-commerce activities in 2001 in Russia and CIS. Making on-line booking and sales operations available through its Russian language web-site from 2001. Offering access to the Internet Ticket Auction a regular monthly event in the Russian and CIS market. Passengers are also being offered enhanced on board services with the use of laptop computers, as well as CD players being offered on flights. Menus in business class called “Taste Europe!” created by five top European chefs are also to be offered for the business traveller on the intra-European routes. The new winter schedule valid from 29th October 2000 to 24th March 2001 emphasises according to Lufthansa, its commitment to Russia and the CIS. The airline will operate 106 non-stop flights a week to 13 destinations in Russia and the CIS from 5 points in Germany, offering connections via those airports to 815 destinations in more than 130 countries worldwide. The new wide-body long-haul 280-seat A340-600, will replace the 150-seat A320 on routes to Tashkent, Baku, Almaty and Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) in response to the recovery in demand in Central Asia. In the new winter schedule Lufthansa offers four daily flights on Moscow-Frankfurt route, daily flights from Moscow to Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Berlin and Munich, daily evening flights and three morning flights a week from St.-Petersburg to Frankfurt, three flights a week from Frankfurt to Samara, Yekaterinburg, Ashgabat, Baku and Tashkent (Uzbekistan), two flights weekly from Frankfurt to Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Perm, five flights a week on the route Frankfurt - Almaty and daily flights on Frankfurt - Kiev (Ukraine) route.

Article ID: 2097