Lufthansa's passenger numbers surged ahead 12.1 percent in
September, far more than its main European rivals, but the German flag carrier
remains cautious about pushing up fares, its United Kingdom and Ireland general
manager told BTN Wednesday.
Marianne Sammann said the average ticket price for Lufthansa's
U.K.-originating passengers fell 25 percent during the recession, and although
it has started to pick up since the beginning of 2010, it has been a slow
recovery.
"It has been a long process," she said. "We
can't expect prices to recover in one year. It will slowly develop as passenger
numbers pick up and more of them move back up to the front of the aircraft. To
return to where we were, average ticket price would have to increase by 30
percent, and I am struggling to see how any travel buyer could get that into
their budget."
Lufthansa's rise in September passenger volume far exceeded those
of British Airways, up 4.3 percent, and Air France/KLM, up only 1.5
percent—although its figures were affected by air traffic control strikes in
France. The entire Lufthansa Group, which also includes Swiss, Austrian
Airlines and British Midland, was up 7.9 percent to 8.65 million passengers.
Sammann said the September figures revealed the true
underlying recovery in the market after results for business travel-heavy
months earlier in 2010 were distorted by such events as the ash cloud crisis.
She also said that Lufthansa outperformed its rivals because it reduced
capacity less drastically when the recession started.
"We made every effort to adjust capacity less than our
competitors and be ready to take advantage of the upturn," she said. "We
kept the capacity and quality of our network. It was a good investment."
Load factor for the core Lufthansa airline in September was
82.6 percent.