German airlines giant Lufthansa has cited serious difficulties in implementing the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) order asking the airlines to merge the fuel surcharge with the base fare. Lufthansa has said that it is not in accordance with the global norms.
“Implementation of the DGCA order will take five to six months. This will be a more complex set up. As the new scheme is not globally accepted it will also be difficult for the consumers. The ticket booked in Germany would be different from the one booked in India,” said Alex Hilgers, Director (South Asia), Lufthansa, on the sidelines of an event introduce the new Star Chefs of The Leela Group of Hotels.
The Lufthansa Star Chef programme invites celebrity chefs from around the globe to pamper passengers with delicious local dishes.
He also added a sub-committee constituting members from the airlines is there to discuss this issue. Though we are not a member we have asked our fellow airlines to take up our issues.
“We have written a letter to the DGCA citing the problems we will face in implementing the new scheme,” added Hilgers.
He said that due to the slowdown the passenger load capacity in the premium class is down and the yields worldwide have decreased 20 per cent.
Lufthansa, which has completed 50 years of its operation in India, has reported very high load factor from India in August, he said. The airline is hopeful of an increase in yield by next year.
“We are hopeful that the yield will become much better by 2010,” said Hilgers.
The airline announced that even in these times of recession they have not cut capacity from India but decreased the number of premium class seats.
Lufthansa has started flying a 56-seater business jet from Mumbai to Munich from last month. This is the second business jet from Pune, which was started last year. The airlines currently operates 54 weekly frequencies to seven destination in India.
The airline with an average fleet age of 6.7 years would buy 190 aircraft till 2015. It is hopeful to receive the delivery of A380 by next spring.
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