Let’s imagine – purely theoretically – a country in which nothing exists besides sand and a box of money. What do you have to do to develop this country economically? First you have to build a runway & establish a national carrier…
Christoph Franz, Lufthansa’s chief executive, in an article in the National about Lufthansa’s new strategy to compete with increasingly popular Gulf carriers like Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates.
Franz, who made the remarks to a German magazine last year, continued:
The Gulf countries understood that aviation industry is a motor for economic development.
In contrast to this position we in Europe see this motor more and more only as a source for taxes or as a source of noise. I think we have to change our thinking fundamentally in regards to this.
According to the National, Lufthansa plans to do this by beating Gulf airlines at their own game – upgrading its planes using German design, improving the customer experience and lowering ticket prices.
But whether that strategy will stem the falloff in business experienced by European airlines remains to be seen.
Thoughts?
Credit: Photo by World Economic Forum
