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Lufthansa reaffirms commitment to 777-9X, eyes further growth in GCC

The airline said it expects more than one million passengers from the whole region to travel to Germany, Europe and beyond.

Germany's Lufthansa, the largest European airline group, reaffirmed on Sunday its commitment to the Boeing 777-9X programme as its "launch customer" and said 34 new-generation aircraft from the US manufacturer would join its fleet from 2020.

The group geared up for further growth in the GCC, and said 2013 would again be a record year for it in the Gulf and the Middle East.

The airline said it expects more than one million passengers from the whole region to travel to Germany, Europe and beyond.

"With larger aircraft operating from Dubai since summer and an expansion of flights from Saudi Arabia there are more seats available for local passengers but also Europeans to travel to the GCC. The latest figures reflect an increase of more than 10 per cent compared to 2012 and a trust bestowed on the airline specifically for its attractive fares on the premium services and easy connections," said Carsten Schaeffer, vice-president of Sales and Services Southeast Europe, Middle East and Africa at the Dubai Airshow.

"The potential of European travellers coming to Dubai and the UAE is larger than ever not only from the business sector but also for leisure travellers. With Lufthansa Holidays we have recently started a new offer in Germany which also brings more leisure travellers to the UAE."

"Over 300,000 tourists from Germany will come in 2013 to Dubai — with our new initiative we will have a substantial share in this business." Schaeffer said the 777-9X would be a perfect fit for markets with a high demand such as China, the US or Dubai.

"Our commitment to the Boeing 777-9X and our position as launch customer are a convincing result of over 50 years of cooperation with Boeing. From the Boeing 707 in the 60s, the first jumbo jet, the amazing Boeing 737 or lately the new Boeing 747-8, we have a very special cooperation," said Schaeffer.

Globally, Lufthansa is on a fleet expansion and on order are another 295 aeroplanes, valued at more than €36 billion at list prices and for delivery until 2025, he said.

Schaeffer said Lufthansa's Middle East network would grow further. With more than 140 weekly flights from 14 destinations it is the largest programme ever performed; Saudi Arabia, especially, will see more flights with a new daily flight on the Dammam-Frankfurt route. These flights are joined by the seven weekly flights each from Riyadh and Jeddah to Frankfurt and the three weekly flights from Riyadh to Munich.

"We are looking back on more than 50 years of flying to the Middle East and right after the start of Lufthansa in 1955 this region became very important for being connected to Europe and America; building on this heritage is an important pillar of our services here. We saw another important milestone this year while celebrating 50 years of flying to Kuwait, which is one of our best performing routes, especially in premium-class travel," said Schaeffer.

"In addition to the even better network opportunities from the Middle East, Lufthansa committed itself to invest €1 million every day [excluding the aeroplane orders] until 2015 in better ground and onboard services," he said. "New seats in all classes, individual in-flight entertainment in economy class, innovative first class and business class as well as brand-new lounges, will help us."