Lufthansa CEO Optimistic About Industry and Airline
Jennifer Billock June 13, 2018
Frankfurt Main, Germany - July 10, 2015: Airbus A380-800 aircraft of the Lufthansa airline landing at the international airport in Frankfurt Main (FRA)
Thanks to hedging deals, the CEO of Lufthansa Carsten Spohr says he’s much more relaxed than many of his competitors; he also believes that higher gas prices in the long term will allow for more airline consolidation – which he thinks will be a boon for the entire industry.
Lufthansa’s CEO Carsten Spohr has a lot to be thankful for. He’s feeling pretty relaxed thanks to hedging deals – and even approves of higher gas prices for the long term. He thinks it will lead to consolidation of airlines, which he sees as a benefit to the air travel industry.
“We are looking forward to another record summer, which will probably outperform our record summer last year,” Spohr told Bloomberg TV.
When asked if higher oil prices will be a benefit for the company, Spohr stayed optimistic. “In the short term, we tend to be hedged in a better way than most of our competitors,” he said. “Long term, higher oil prices will mean more consolidation, and that’s food for the industry, so I tend to be more relaxed.”
Even with challenges facing the entire air travel industry, Spohr feels confident that things will work out.
“In particular parts of the world, qualified staff is getting more and more difficult to bring onboard, and it’s no secret manufacturers are putting out aircraft slower than they intended to,” he said. “On the one hand that’s causing us operational challenges, but on the other hand it’s good for the industry in that the capacity growth is somewhat reduced.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
And you forgot I, after DACH. LH group is strong out of Italy and the new MXP lounge fantastic. I am happy with them and will always fly their excellent C and F products. The competition will still come from the MEA located in human rights ignoring countries with the masses of passengers ignoring this fact. Real premium business will always go to companies like LH group and for filling up the planes there are the 10 abreast 777 which are well deserved:-).
Of course he is happy. After Air Berlin's demise, he can gut the whole DACH area like a fish. And when he calls further consolidation "a boon for the entire industry", don't believe for a second that it will be a boon for passengers. What he refers to is basically enabling the industry to charge whatever they want due to the lack of competition.