Lufthansa offers to help Air India become a member of Star Alliance

According to the Press Trust of India, German flag carrier Lufthansa, today said, it will act as a mentor to Indian state carrier Air India to become a member of Star Alliance, a global grouping of top airlines.

“Lufthansa is the mentor for Air India and we will work together to get the latter on board the Star Alliance,” the German airlines’ South Asia director Werner Heesen said here.

However, Heesen said his company had no plans at present for financial investments in India.

“Financial investments are not on the strategic map of Lufthansa for India,” he said when asked about the airlines’ plans for South Asia in the wake of the current aviation industry crisis.

He said Lufthansa currently operated 55 flights from seven Indian cities to three destinations in Germany–Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.

All Lufthansa flights have nearly 60 per cent bookings from travellers of Indian origin, he said. “Indians form about two-thirds of the total passengers on our flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune,” Heesen said.

So, Lufthansa was consciously planning its routes to suit Indian travellers. “Also, we are ensuring that Indians get to feel at home by including all types of Indian cuisine, Indian attendants speaking the languages of different regions and in-flight entertainment with local content,” he added.

About Devesh Agarwal

A electronics and automotive product management, marketing and branding expert, he was awarded a silver medal at the Lockheed Martin innovation competition 2010. He is ranked 6th on Mashable's list of aviation pros on Twitter and in addition to Bangalore Aviation, he has contributed to leading publications like Aviation Week, Conde Nast Traveller India, The Economic Times, and The Mint (a Wall Street Journal content partner). He remains a frequent flier and shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Indian aviation industry without fear or favour.

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  1. Hi Devesh,

    I saw some numbers for Sep ’08 that said 2.6 million domestic for India. That is dismal!!

    For July it was 5.6 million. Are these numbers right? It looks like domestic traffic has been hammered. Are we trending to 50 million all India this year?

    Srivathsa

+OK