LH aggressively promotes Africa

[tolipanebas]

Looks like LH has decided to aggressively start a marketing campaign in order to win over more long-time AF/KL customers on the African continent. Needless to say that in this context, SN is a very important element and it thus more prominently mentioned than any other LH group airline, including even SWISS!

Read all about it on:
http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/themen/ ... twork.html
Including an interesting destination map

or download the press folder:
http://presse.lufthansa.com/fileadmin/d ... rika-e.pdf

enjoy!

[sn26567]

See also the press release published earlier on Luchtzak: viewtopic.php?p=233310#p233310

I have one comment. From the interesting destination map, it appears that SN is the reference airline for West and Central Africa, Swiss for East Africa, Lufthansa for North and Cental/South Africa, with some crumbs left for bmi (a few former British colonies) and Austrian. It show that the LH group is trying to specialise the airlines for goegraphical areas in Africa. I wonder if SN (or LX for that matter) will be allowed to open destinations in areas outside of its strongholds.

[tolipanebas]

See also the press release published earlier on Luchtzak: viewtopic.php?p=233310#p233310

Indeed. saw it too late...

Since you've just asked an interesting question, maybe the mods can keep this topic here, as a start of a discussion?

it appears that SN is the reference airline for West and Central Africa, Swiss for East Africa, Lufthansa for North and Cental/South Africa, with some crumbs left for bmi (a few former British colonies) and Austrian. It show that the LH group is trying to specialise the airlines for goegraphical areas in Africa. I wonder if SN (or LX for that matter) will be allowed to open destinations in areas outside of its strongholds.

I don't know if LX is such a reference on East Africa really?
Looking at the map, the ONLY East African stronghold they have is Daresalam, since Mombassa is just a tourist destination really....

It's more that the West is overwhelmingly blue, than that the East is overwhelmingly red actually.

In my opinion, and as this map shows, SN should add a 6th A330 to its fleet and dedicate it to improving services to East Africa. Now I know that region is less densely populated than West Africa and also open to more competition both from Europe, the Gulf as well as well-established local airlines, but provided the Korongo project finally gets under way, it should proof a good investment for SN.

SN could then become the undisputed reference airline within the LH group of airlines when it comes to the whole of central Africa, with LX and LH offering additional services to selected high demand markets from their hubs within that region too and of course keep serving South Africa.

Actually, I wonder why the route map also shows tourist destinations?
Is it because they also wanted to put OS on the map? Because quite frankly, OS is nowhere on the black continent, other than in Tripoli and Cairo.

[Conti764]

Looks like LH has decided to aggressively start a marketing campaign in order to win over more long-time AF/KL customers on the African continent. Needless to say that in this context, SN is a very important element and it thus more prominently mentioned than any other LH group airline, including even SWISS!

Read all about it on:
http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/themen/ ... twork.html
Including an interesting destination map

or download the press folder:
http://presse.lufthansa.com/fileadmin/d ... rika-e.pdf

enjoy!

One small flaw however: they forget to mention SN as one of the Star Alliance member companies under the Lufthansa Umbrella

[Conti764]

In my opinion, and as this map shows, SN should add a 6th A330 to its fleet and dedicate it to improving services to East Africa. Now I know that region is less densely populated than West Africa and also open to more competition both from Europe, the Gulf as well as well-established local airlines, but provided the Korongo project finally gets under way, it should proof a good investment for SN.

It always amazes me how close many of SN's destinations are to each other, truly amazing. Even on West-Africa I still see some destinations that could be served by SN as well, sometimes in full competition with AFKLM:

SN could then become the undisputed reference airline within the LH group of airlines when it comes to the whole of central Africa, with LX and LH offering additional services to selected high demand markets from their hubs within that region too and of course keep serving South Africa.

Maybe that's LH's goal after all? In the future add some A332's to either serve non-African long haul markets and select African markets which can sustain a direct non-triangular (daily) service on their own (FIH comes to mind to start with) and keep the A333's (and eventually replace them with newer ones) to keep offering the current triangular services...

I still believe SN's future within LH is bright.

[tolipanebas]

they forget to mention SN as one of the Star Alliance member companies under the Lufthansa Umbrella

If I am not mistaken, they don't mention ANY LH group of airlines on that page, but rather just present the STAR partners.

But you are right: SN should be on that page, and not be presented together with LX as just another airline from the LH group of airlines, since LH doesn't own SN (yet). Another indication LH values SN really high?

[RoMax]

I have one comment. From the interesting destination map, it appears that SN is the reference airline for West and Central Africa, Swiss for East Africa, Lufthansa for North and Cental/South Africa, with some crumbs left for bmi (a few former British colonies) and Austrian. It show that the LH group is trying to specialise the airlines for goegraphical areas in Africa. I wonder if SN (or LX for that matter) will be allowed to open destinations in areas outside of its strongholds.

SN's intention is to expand services to East- (and Central)Africa with their sixth A330. SN will probably be the main carrier to whole Central Africa with the other LH group airlines mainly operating to North- and South-Africa combined with some Central Africa destinations: like Nigeria for LH. SN will never be that strong in north-and south-africa and LH, LX... will probably never become the main carriers in the group for Centra-Africa.

[DannyVDB]

Interesting sentence in the brochure: "Further connections are being planned."

More frequencies, new destinations?

Danny

[134flyer]

Interesting article in Le Figaro about LH attacking AF in Africa. They report that:

-ET is preparing to sign an agreement to join Star Alliance (as rumoured for a long time already)
-SN will open new routes to AFI (of course nothing new at all)
But most interesting:
-LH will announce during the next few days that they will open a new route to Pointe-Noire out of FRA.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/2010/06 ... france.php

After Libreville, this would be the second 'francophone' destination in Africa served by LH, destinations which would/could be interesting in the SN network as well...

[NCB]

Interesting, PNR straight from FRA instead of waiting for that 6th A332/3 and assigning the route to SN. This looks like the appetizer for the future strategy of LH, expanding Africa from FRA rather than from BRU.

[BrightCedars]

What is the equipment LH plans to use on PNR, BBJ? If so it would make sense to compete on product level with AF which SN cannot currently do when DEDICATE is on the agenda.

I don't think it's a bad thing for SN.

[NCB]

To me it made sense for SN to operate an A332 on a BRU-PNR-Brazza routing. BZV is just next to FIH, but it's still across the border/river and a capital city larger than Brussels in terms of population.
The Boeing Business Jet (operated by Privatair) out of FRA would not make much sense as business passengers would have to lose time connecting in FRA to get to and from France so most will prefer to pay slightly more to fly AF.

[134flyer]

Interesting, PNR straight from FRA instead of waiting for that 6th A332/3 and assigning the route to SN. This looks like the appetizer for the future strategy of LH, expanding Africa from FRA rather than from BRU.

Well, even though LH is an important partner (and minority shareholder) of SN, as long as SN is not fully owned by LH, SN will still operate as an ‘independent’ airline. The same for LH; IMO they will expand ‘independently’ from SN where they see opportunities in Africa, at least for now. It is clear that LH wants to attack AF and expand in Africa now. It would be foolish for LH to wait until SN gets their 6th A330 to expand even further in AFI, and/or LH owns 100% of SN.

I don’t see this will be an appatizer for LH's future strategy to AFI and that LH will expand to AFI out of FRA ‘at the expense of SN’ too much. On the contrary, some flights might be transferred to SN as soon as SN is fully owned by LH. The same happened when LX became fully owned by LH; IIRC, LH transferred their DLA flights to LX (and LH got Malobo in return). Also, SN is expanding on their own to AFI as well. Besides, LH clearly stated that their AFI strategy would consist of the FRA/BRU/ZRH hubs and that none of them would become the Africa hub

Regarding Pointe-Noir, it’s an oil industry destination, so as BrightCedars has pointed out, it might be served by an BBJ for the moment

The Boeing Business Jet (operated by Privatair) out of FRA would not make much sense as business passengers would have to lose time connecting in FRA to get to and from France so most will prefer to pay slightly more to fly AF.

Why would connecting in FRA not make much sense? Then it wouldn’t make much sense if SN started BRU-PNR either . Are all the pax on the AF CDG-PNR flight originating in Paris? And if they would originate from other parts of France, it would hardly make any difference if connecting in CDG or FRA.

[NCB]

Why would connecting in FRA not make much sense? Then it wouldn’t make much sense if SN started BRU-PNR either. Are all the pax on the AF CDG-PNR flight originating in Paris? And if they would originate from other parts of France, it would hardly make any difference if connecting in CDG or FRA.

It would not make sense to have around 50 business seats for business passengers connecting through FRA. Sure a few will connect through FRA if the price is right but 50 seats is too many to fill, especially as most will be connections from France.
To make direct FRA-PNR flights sustainable, LH needs an economy cabin where passengers will mind less about connections if the price is right.
The equipment would seem to be a big challenge. An A333, the smallest W/B equipment LH has in the fleet, would seem too large.

AF is operating an A332 CDG-PNR with 40 business class seats, and the direct service was started in 2004 using Dedicate A319.

It is the first time I heard about a BRU-FRA-ZRH strategy for African expansion and it goes against SN interests. SN needs to grow into a hub airline, independently from FRA and ZRH. ZRH' s Cameroon lines are more competition than they are a partnership to SN. LH could as easily keep them both as they could transfer them all to SN or to LX.

What is wrong about this strategy is this: let's pretend that I am a passenger living in Lille, France who needs to get to Pointe Noire. With LH, I would need to get to Bruxelles-midi station, switch trains to BRU first, then go to FRA, before flying to PNR. It ' s a 20 hour travel.
No thank you, I will take the TGV straight into CDG and take Air France, it will take less than 11 hours.
I took Lille as an example because half of sub-saharian Africa were French and Belgian colonies.

[RoMax]

Interesting, PNR straight from FRA instead of waiting for that 6th A332/3 and assigning the route to SN. This looks like the appetizer for the future strategy of LH, expanding Africa from FRA rather than from BRU.

SN is still not an 100% daughter and even than it would not be a reason for LH(LX) not to grow in Africa, one of the most important growing markets. PNR is a VERY important destination for AF and LH can't wait until SN is ready to fly to PNR. And I think someone said it already, there is a good chance LX or LH will transfer some routes to SN. But ONLY from the moment SN is a 100% daughter.

[134flyer]

It would not make sense to have around 50 business seats for business passengers connecting through FRA.

The Privatair BBJ2 which LH uses (if it would be operated to PNR) has 24 C seats & 84 Y seats, they don't use the Business Class only BBJ's anymore. I still don't see why it wouldn't make sense for LH to start flying with a BBJ (24 C & 84 Y) to PNR to start with, this is what AF did with an Dedicate A319 afterall as well. As said, it is mostly an oil destination.

It is the first time I heard about a BRU-FRA-ZRH strategy for African expansion and it goes against SN interests. SN needs to grow into a hub airline, independently from FRA and ZRH. ZRH' s Cameroon lines are more competition than they are a partnership to SN. LH could as easily keep them both as they could transfer them all to SN or to LX.

Remember the LH/LX/SN Africa presentation in Paris last November? It was even discussed here on Luchtzak. A link to one of the media reports:

http://www.businesstravel.fr/2009111934 ... rique.html

Sure a few will connect through FRA if the price is right but 50 seats is too many to fill, especially as most will be connections from France.

What is wrong about this strategy is this: let's pretend that I am a passenger living in Lille, France who needs to get to Pointe Noire. With LH, I would need to get to Bruxelles-midi station, switch trains to BRU first, then go to FRA, before flying to PNR. It ' s a 20 hour travel.
No thank you, I will take the TGV straight into CDG and take Air France, it will take less than 11 hours.
I took Lille as an example because half of sub-saharian Africa were French and Belgian colonies.

LH (or even AF) are not after that hypotetical Lille (or other regional cities) to PNR pax, they are mostly after the 'oil' and other high yield pax!I really don't see that LH's strategy is wrong, but you are free to warn them that they are (again) making a big mistake and that they immediately should abandon their unrealistic plan to start flying to PNR out of FRA...
But first I suggest you to read the other article in today's Figaro, which has some very interesting figures which also shows why AF is becoming a bit nervous about LH (and SN & LX) attacking them in Africa. It also shows what the Africa traffic really is all about, it's surely not only the Paris/France to Africa traffic!

http://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/2010/06 ... ntable.php

I guess AF won't be too pleased that some of those figures are out on the open...

[RoMax]

But first I suggest you to read the other article in today's Figaro, which has some very interesting figures which also shows why AF is becoming a bit nervous about LH (and SN & LX) attacking them in Africa. It also shows what the Africa traffic really is all about, it's surely not only the Paris/France to Africa traffic!

http://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/2010/06 ... ntable.php

I guess AF won't be too pleased that some of those figures are out on the open...

You can be sure AF is becoming nervous about the LH group attacking them on their AFI network. If LH will start flying to PNR this year AF will loose their monopoly on 4 routes (Lomé, Cotonou, Ouagadougou and Pointe-Noir). SN will lose monopoly on just one destination (Kigali). And this is just a beginning for the LH group. AF will still earn a lot of money in AFI in the future, but as LH said they will loose a lot of market share on their monopoly routes (and probably on other routes too). LH is not hidding the fact that they are taking over SN just for their AFI network. If you want to beat AF on their AFI network, you need SN. SN and AF are still the only two airlines that really succeed to operate a big network in French speaking Africa. SN on it's own would never succeed to beat AF, but together with LH...

[NCB]

The Privatair BBJ2 which LH uses (if it would be operated to PNR) has 24 C seats & 84 Y seats, they don't use the Business Class only BBJ's anymore. I still don't see why it wouldn't make sense for LH to start flying with a BBJ (24 C & 84 Y) to PNR to start with, this is what AF did with an Dedicate A319 afterall as well. As said, it is mostly an oil destination.

That is new to me as well. 24C/84Y, not far from the 12C/96Y I had proposed for the A319 operations.
Glad to see LH is trying out new things but what traffic is it going to generate from FRA?
Oil, but are German companies involved?
(Ce pétrole est exploité par une dizaine de sociétés occidentales. Le groupe français Total est le principal opérateur pétrolier puisqu'il a contrôle les 2/3 de la production pétrolière congolaise qui a été de 11,3 millions de tonnes en 2003.) http://www.uneca.org/sros/ca/news/End%2 ... 0Congo.pdf

BRU is located well for this connection and Privatair could as easily have operated for SN. Why FRA and why LH when they have SN? SN can use the extra longhaul capacity right away as it is heading into another year of losses that will limit its expansion potential in Africa, which is obviously counter-productive also for LH.

*note: In absolute terms a 24C/84Y is not a BBJ, just the same way the Dedicate A319 are not ACJ but A319LR, please be precise in what you write otherwise confusion occurs.

[RoMax]

BRU is located well for this connection and Privatair could as easily have operated for SN. Why FRA and why LH when they have SN? SN can use the extra longhaul capacity right away as it is heading into another year of losses that will limit its expansion potential in Africa, which is obviously counter-productive also for LH.

It seems like you still don't understand that SN isn't ready for another new part of operations in the few comming months (Early 2011 yes, but earlier? I would say: no. And that's too late for LH). SN is stil NOT a full LH daughter and they can not launch these flights to Pointe-Noir as fast as LH can do this. It's not because SN is the AFI specialist and LH owns (only) 45% of SN, SN is suddenly the only LH group airline operating to AFI. SN's turn will come, when they are a full LH daughter. And please be happy that SN is starting 4 new destinations next month and LH starting to attack AF on one of their strongest routes. Btw: Libreville wich LH started past year was between march 2008 and March 2009 with 45 million the most profitable route for AF. Probably the profit in this route is decreased with the new LH flights, and this proves that LH knows where they have to attack AF. Luanda, Libreville, Pointe-Noire... all very strong markets for AF and LH is atticking them on all of these. Be happy for that.

[LJ]

BRU is located well for this connection and Privatair could as easily have operated for SN. Why FRA and why LH when they have SN? SN can use the extra longhaul capacity right away as it is heading into another year of losses that will limit its expansion potential in Africa, which is obviously counter-productive also for LH.

The answer is simple. BRU can't provide the connections FRA can. How does an oil worker go from Houston via Brussels to Point-a-Noire??? Oil routes will always be offered from FRA (or ZRH) first as they can offer the oil workers the necessary connections to the world. BRU is ideal for AFI flights which don't need too many connections from outside Europe, not when you need feed from the oil cities around the world.