Flagship takes off on second long-haul route; flights to Johannesburg to follow

Lufthansa’s third Airbus A380 enters scheduled service today (Wednesday, 1 September), just one week after being delivered to the airline. The aircraft, which bears the name Peking, will depart from Frankfurt for the Chinese capital at 17.20 hours under flight number LH720. After landing in Beijing at 8.30 hours local time on the Thursday, the aircraft will be officially named. The return flight (LH 721) will leave Beijing on Thursday morning at 10.30 hours and arrive at Frankfurt the same day at 14.30 hours.

Initially, the A380 will serve Beijing once a week. In coordination with Chinese authorities, Lufthansa aims to gradually increase the frequency of this service. On 12 September Lufthansa will launch flights to its third A380 destination, Johannesburg. The city will be served twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays.

In the Lufthansa configuration, the Airbus A380 can seat up to 526 passengers. The totally revamped First Class cabin with eight generously proportioned seats on the upper deck stands for individuality, the ultimate in comfort and technical innovation, which greatly enhances the travel experience. Also on the upper deck is Lufthansa’s award-winning Business Class cabin with 98 seats. On the main deck, the 420 seats in the impressively spacious Economy Class provide an unprecedented level of comfort. Details of the A380 flight schedule can be accessed at www.lufthansa.com/a380.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG Corporate Communications 01.09.10

Effective 31st October, the Leading European Airlines starts daily flights from the city of Luxembourg to the Bavarian capital

With the beginning of the winter timetable, Lufthansa is extending its network out of the Benelux region. As of 31st October, passengers departing from Luxembourg will be offered up to two daily flights to Lufthansa’s Southern hub of Munich. A modern Bombardier Regional Jet CRJ-700 of Lufthansa CityLine will be operating the new route, offering up to 70 seats in Economy and Business Class.

Lufthansa herewith completes the offer of its partner Luxair which connects up to three times a day Luxembourg with Munich. Passengers will have the choice between 31 weekly flights between the two cities.

“The opening of direct flights out of Luxembourg confirms Lufthansa’s strong commitment to the European market. With this new connection, the German carrier operates services to all major European business and leisure cities”, says Karsten Benz, Vice President Sales & Services Lufthansa Europe.

“Next to our daily flights from Brussels and Amsterdam to Munich, we will now also be connecting the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with the Bavarian capital, offering even more flexibility to our customers. In addition, the new direct flights offer ideal connections to the worldwide network of 114 destinations in 44 countries operated out of the dedicated Lufthansa and Star Alliance Terminal 2 in Munich.” adds Claus Becker, General Manager Lufthansa Benelux & France.

Munich is not only a very popular destination in terms of business and leisure travel, but the airport has very recently also been voted Europe’s best Airport at the World Airport Awards 2010, achieving the highest approval rating from customers. At no other major European airport passengers can transfer easier and faster from one flight to the other than at Munich’s Terminal 2. Thanks to the special design of the building, transit passengers can catch their connecting flights within 30 minutes.

Moreover, passengers from Luxembourg have the possibility to enjoy the exclusive services at the dedicated Lufthansa Lounges. Next to the First Class Lounge and the Senator Café, a recently new refurbished Senator Lounge welcomes its guests in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere which features a well-appointed bistro, 20 workstations, two shower rooms and a separate rest area. Altogether, at Terminal 2 in Munich, Lufthansa offers customers seven lounges on encompassing a total floor space of close to 48,500 square feet.

For information and flight reservations, please visit the Lufthansa website at www.lufthansa.com or contact the Lufthansa Call Center . Customers can also book their flights through Lufthansa-designated travel agencies or at Lufthansa sales counters at airports.

A return ticket for the Luxembourg-Munich flight will be available from 99€ (inclusive of all taxes and fees) and Members of the Miles&More program, the leading frequent flyer programme in Europe, will have the possibility to earn Miles on the new flights.

The new service at a glance
Luxembourg – Munich

Airports/Three-letter-code/Time zone (winter)
Luxembourg, International Airport (LUX); UTC + 1 hr.
Munich, Terminal 2 (MUC); UTC + 1 hr.

Schedule
(all times are local times; winter time)
NEW as of 31st October 2010
Flight schedule out of Luxembourg:
LH2319 Luxembourg 09:30 - Munich 10:35 (Monday to Saturday)
LH2321 Luxembourg19:20 - Munich 20:25 (Monday to Friday + Sunday)

Flight schedule out of Munich:
LH2318 Munich 7:45 - Luxembourg 8:55 (Monday to Saturday)
LH2320 Munich 17:25 - Luxembourg 18:35 (Monday to Friday + Sunday)

Flight time (average) 1 hour 10 minutes
Aircraft type/seats CR7 / 70 seats (in Business and Economy Class configuration)

Distance 270 Miles/ 430 km

Lufthansa Corporate Communications Europe 23.08.10

Lufthansa and Germanwings plan extensive cooperation with numerous benefits for customers

From 1 September, Miles & More members will also be able to collect miles on Germanwings flights and use Lufthansa lounges / Combinable airfares and collaboration in corporate sales from 2011

Closer cooperation between Lufthansa and Germanwings and a comprehensive package of measures will provide additional travel benefits for the customers of both airlines.

Starting on 1 September 2010, Miles & More members will be able not only to exchange miles on all Germanwings flights but also to collect award miles. From then on, the same fixed mileage amounts for individual booking classes that currently apply to Miles & More members on all Lufthansa flights will also apply on Germanwings flights. For a domestic flight, for example, Miles & More members will receive up to 1,000 miles and for a flight to a Germanwings destination in Europe up to 1,250 miles, depending on the booking class. Since December 2009, Miles & More members have been able to redeem their miles for flights across the entire Germanwings route network. For 30,000 miles they can take off to a destination within Europe, and for 25,000 miles they can book a domestic flight with the air-line. In addition, frequent flyers with a Miles & More HON Circle or Senator status who are travelling on a Germanwings ticket can now use Lufthansa’s Business and Senator lounges in Germany.

The Germanwings frequent flyer programme, the Boomerang Club, will continue to exist independently of the Miles & More partnership. Before each flight, passengers who have both a Miles & More and a Boomerang Club card will be able to select the frequent flyer pro-gramme in which they wish to collect miles. Further information can be downloaded from www.miles-and-more.com or www.germanwings.com.

“Thanks to the closer collaboration with Germanwings, our Miles & More members will have even more opportunities to collect and redeem award miles,” says Thierry Antinori, member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board with responsibility for Marketing and Sales. “We will continue to pursue our strategic approach so that both airlines can develop their product and their flight schedules independently. At the same time, however, we will be able to offer our joint customers significant added value.”

In the next phase of the cooperation, starting from the beginning of 2011, interline (i.e. combinable) fares will be available for Lufthansa and Germanwings flights. This means that travel agencies and Lufthansa sales points (call centres and ticket counters at the airports) will be able to book and sell an outbound or return flight with both airlines in a single transaction and from a single source. Customers of both airlines will profit from greater flexibility with regard to travel and booking options and will save time and effort when making their travel arrangements.

Lufthansa and Germanwings are planning to cooperate in the corporate travel segment from the beginning of 2011 so that they can extend the benefits of their partnership to their corporate customers.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG Corporate Communication press release 31.08.10

Deutsche Lufthansa AG has posted an operating profit of 159 million euros for the second quarter of 2010, more than tripling the figure for the second quarter in 2009. The recovery in demand, particularly in cargo and intercontinental traffic, and the efforts to reduce costs in all areas of the Group during the past months played decisive roles in recording the positive result. However, the severe winter, the strike by the pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit, the airspace lockdown after the volcano eruption on Iceland and the continued slump in prices all took their toll and had negative effects during the first six months of the year. The Lufthansa Group therefore posted an operating loss of 171 million euros for the first half of the year; the figure is 179 million euros less than during the same period of the previous year. Speaking at the presentation of the first-half results, Lufthansa Executive Board member and CFO Stephan Gemkow commented: “There is a noticeable recovery in First and Business Class bookings in the passenger business and the revenue from long-haul traffic. A good example of this is our A380 with the new First Class, which has had an excellent load factor in all classes since entering scheduled service on the Frankfurt–Tokyo route. Nevertheless, despite our delight with the very good second quarter, we have not yet succeeded in matching the results of earlier years.”

Gemkow went on to add: “We shall continue with the sustained implementation of our cost-cutting measures, particularly in the face of the current slump in prices and altered demand in short-haul traffic. The pay settlements concluded with the pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit, and ver.di mean that ground staff and cockpit crews made an essential contribution.” Although the Passenger Airline Group posted an operating profit for the second quarter, the business segment ended the first six months with a significant operating loss of 342 million euros, of which -203 million euros were accounted for by Lufthansa Passenger Airlines. The Climb 2011 programme to safeguard earnings at Lufthansa Passenger Airlines will therefore continue to be consistently implemented and the same applies for the restructuring measures that are progressing according to plan at the new airlines. Austrian Airlines contributed a loss of 70 million euros to the operating result of the Passenger Airline Group; bmi and Germanwings contributed losses of 93 million and 39 million euros respectively; while SWISS made a positive contribution of 54 million euros.

Referring to the logistics business segment, Gemkow stated: “The freight business shows that consistent cost management also pays off during market recovery phases. After implementing intensive measures to improve its result, Lufthansa Cargo went on to record the best first-half result in its history - a truly remarkable performance!” The business segment earned an operating profit of 144 million euros for the first half of the year; the figure is 278 million euros higher than during the same period of the previous year. MRO and IT Services also ended the first six months successfully posting operating profits slightly above the previous year’s figure; MRO posted operating profit of 145 million and IT Services recorded a figure of eight million euros. And the Catering business segment also benefited from the recovery in demand and posted a distinctly positive operating result of 13 million euros.

Gemkow added that for the coming months, the risks would lie as usual in the volatility surrounding the demand situation, the development of fuel prices and the susceptibility of the industry to external factors. He pointed out however, that the dynamic trend in the development of business during the past months had strengthened the Group’s confidence in achieving its profitability targets. Gemkow added that for the current business year, the Executive Board therefore continued to anticipate a rise in revenue and year-on-year increase in operating profit in line with current market expectations; and that he expected all of the business segments to contribute with positive operating results. In the interim report for the first six months, the Group’s Executive Board stressed that: “Airlines are not only an engine of the economy, but also convert and multiply an economic recovery into their own growth. However, the market conditions for this have changed and only those that adapt to the new conditions will be able to benefit from the opportunity of above-average growth. We are convinced that the Lufthansa Group and its Group companies shall succeed in doing so!”

First-half figures 2010
During the first six months of 2010, the Lufthansa Group generated revenues totalling 12.6 billion euros; equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 23.5 per cent. The traffic revenue rose by 30 per cent to 10.2 billion euros. During the reporting period, the Group’s operating income increased by altogether 22.2 per cent to 14.2 billion euros.

Operating expenses rose by 22.9 per cent to 14.2 billion euros during the first half of the year. This was mainly due to the higher fuel costs which rose by 874 million euros; this was equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 56.1 per cent, which was both price and volume related. The fees and charges were 29 per cent above the previous year’s figure.

The Group recorded an operating loss of 171 million euros for the first half of the year, 179 million euros less than during the same period of the previous year. The decline can mainly be attributed to the negative result in the Passenger Airline Group business segment. The Group posted a result of -104 million euros; during the same period last year, it stood at -178 million euros.

Lufthansa's capital expenditure during the reporting period totalled 974 million euros, of which 850 million euros were spent on the expansion and modernization of the fleet. Operating cash flow totalled 1.4 billion euros, the free cash flow (operating cash flow minus net investments) stood at one billion euros. At the close of the first half, the Group's net indebtedness stood at 1.8 billion euros. In comparison to the figure at the end of 2009, portfolio measures saw the Group’s equity ratio increase to 24.3 per cent.

http://investor-relations.lufthansa.com/en/meldungen/financial-news/investor-relations-financial-news/datum/2010/07/29/lufthansa-gruppe-profitiert-von-nachfrageerholung-und-kostendisziplin.html

Named “München“ at Munich Airport – Scheduled flights to Tokyo from 2 August

Just two months since delivery of its first Airbus A380, Lufthansa has received the second of the type in Hamburg. The new A380 will be ferried from Hamburg to Frankfurt on 21 July prior to being named ”München“ at a festive ceremony at Munich Airport by the wife of Munich’s governing mayor on 28 July. Its inclusion in the Lufthansa fleet will raise frequencies ex Frankfurt to Tokyo from thrice-weekly to daily services from 2 August.

In the Lufthansa configuration, the A380 seats a total of 526 passengers. An entirely new First Class with eight deluxe seats on the upper deck reflects individuality, superior comfort and technical innovation, making air travel an even more relaxing and pleasant experience. The upper deck also accommodates the prize-winning Business Class with 98 seats. Comfort is enhanced additionally in the 420 seats in an impressive and generously dimensioned Economy Class. Numerous airports around the world are currently preparing for the arrival of A380 flights. In Frankfurt, the home base of the Lufthansa A380 fleet, passengers are already boarding and disembarking from the new flagship on two levels.

Presumably from 1 September, Lufthansa is to begin flying thrice-weekly from Frankfurt to Peking with its third A380. The giant Airbus will take off for Peking on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, with return flights each time on the following day. A daily flight will be possible on the route when the fourth A380 joins the fleet at the end of October. From 25 October, the airline is planning to commence thrice weekly flights with its flagship between Frankfurt and Johannesburg. These flights will be available ex Frankfurt on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The return flights from Johannesburg will each be operated on the following day.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG Corporate Communications 19.07.2010