Nevertheless, we may not and we will not let up in our endeavors
towards making Lufthansa Passage more modern, more efficient, and more profitable. A look
to Asia shows why. It was just a few years ago that Asia routes were among our most profitable
services. For years, NRT, HKG, and PVG ranked among the Top Ten best intercontinental routes.
Today, our Top Ten most profitable services include just the one destination in Asia. In 2011, we
were forced to abandon the destinations HYD, CCU, CAN, JKT, and MUC–SIN. And next year we
will be compelled to strike the destinations BUS and SGN from our network. This in spite of
Asia’s major national economies, which are still growing considerably faster than the global
economy and our other markets.
One reason for this downward trend in Asia lies in the monetary developments. This is especially
true of the Japan routes: our returns from the NRT, NGO, and KIX routes are suffering perceptibly
under the depreciating yen. Yet much more sustained is the cost and competitive pressure
from Asian carriers and the Gulf and Bosphorus state airlines, which are making it ever more
difficult for use to earn money on Asia routes. If we are to reverse this trend, we must get an even
better grip particularly on our costs, which compare badly with our rivals. In 2014, we will
therefore be focusing on improvements to our cost items in the intercontinental line. The trend
reversal we managed to achieve in 2013 for our Europe routes we must repeat on longhaul flights
to the East in 2014 as well. We already have a great many highly promising approaches and ideas
that will bring us back on course in Asia as well.
That we are at all capable of this is confirmed by another, current decision concerning our flight
schedule: In the summer of 2014 we will be adopting a new FRA–KUL–JKT flight in our program
and again flying to a new (former) Asian destination. On this route too, we will see whether we
have it in us to reverse the present negative trend.
I am sure that we believe in our common goal to make our Lufthansa strong and profitable again,
also on Asia routes. So that