Lufthansa
continues to enrich its program and services, keeping its promise to its
customers in Greece, for constant growth and development. Thus, the German
airline is launching a new flight to Crete, one of the most popular holiday
destinations for German but also European travellers. Commencing on May, 23rd,
every Saturday, Lufthansa will be flying to Heraklion in just over three hours from Munich with an Airbus A320.
Besides
the new route, Lufthansa is planning to further enhance tourist traffic to Athens, a destination with increasing
demand for leisure and business travel. During summer season, the German
airline will add two more weekly flights from Munich, connecting Bavaria with
the Greek capital 23 times per week in total (3 daily flights and 2
extra weekly flights).
Among the
Mediterranean destinations included in Lufthansa’s schedule, Greece has always been a key market in the region, proving that even in a difficult
financial environment, numbers remain strong and show positive signs of even
better results. Culture, climate, nature, all features that characterise Greece
have been attracting numerous visitors from around the world.
Numbers speak louder than words. According to the latest traffic figures
to/from Greece, for the first nine months of 2014 inbound traffic to Greece with Lufthansa accounted for about 310.000
passengers -with Germany and the US being the key countries
of origin, followed by other
countries from Europe and
from
around the world- and outbound traffic from Greece around 161.000 passengers. Factors that contribute to this positive
growth are the continuous product enhancements and innovations offered by
Lufthansa, as well as the convenient and rich destination network.
Premium quality services
The airline’s main target is
100% customer-orientated services and products. This year’s major achievement
was the introduction of Premium Economy on long-haul flights, by far the most cutting-edge and exclusive travelling
experience, which is already available as of this past weekend on all 15 Boeing
747-8 aircraft and by the end of next year on all Lufthansa long haul aircraft
offering some 1.5 million passengers per year the opportunity to choose extra
comfort and quality at affordable prices. Alongside the new Premium Economy
Class, Lufthansa continues to install the upgraded First and Business Class cabins onboard its long-haul aircraft. These
innovation investments amount to 1 million euros daily and are setto be
completed by late summer 2015. Lufthansa will then be in a position to offer
its guests in all classes the exclusive travelling experience of a award
winning five-star First Class as well as the new Business Class, where aircraft
seats can be transformed at the touch of a button into a comfortable bed with a
horizontal sleeping area of 1.98
metres long.
Another
major enhancement was the new state-of-the-art entertainment system for short
and mid haul flights which was
introduced on Lufthansa’s flights from Frankfurt & Munich to a number of
routes in the Mediterranean and beyond, giving passengers the possibility to
watch a wide variety of Hollywood blockbusters films, the latest TV programs
and listen to a plethora of music channels and albums on their personal smartphones, tablets or notebooks. The
system is simple and user-friendly, giving customers full control in choosing
films and other programming at the time that suits them during their flight.
This new product will be
offered occasionally on flights to
Greece and Cyprus. To use the system, passengers must download the special free “Lufthansa Entertainment” app from the Apple
app store or Google Play before using the wi-fi system on board one of the 20
Airbus A321 aircraft equipped with the in-flight entertainment system for
medium haul flights.
“Lufthansa
has been offering its upscale product to Greece since 1959 and its top markings
at the World Travel Awards as a Leading European Airline for many consecutive
years proves that ‘everything happens for a reason’. It’s all a matter of
proper planning, continuous investing and perfect servicing and these are the
fields in which Lufthansa gets top scores on year-to-year basis. We are glad to
see a continuous improvement in the traffic, which shows that we meet the
demands of the travelers from both Greece and Cyprus, offering the strongest
European and North American network. Jointly with SWISS, Austrian Airlines and
Brussels Airlines, we offer services to more than 260 destinations in 100
countries on four continents, through the Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Zurich and
Brussels hubs”, mentioned Mr Harro Julius
Petersen, Deutsche Lufthansa AG General Manager (Greece and Cyprus). “The main pillars for this improvement were
our extensive network and routing combination within Lufthansa Group (LH,
LX,SN, OS) and with A++ partners (United Airlines, Air Canada, etc), its best
figures for punctuality, having achieved a significantly higher punctuality
rate than any of its main European competitors”, added Mr Petersen.
Lufthansa has come a long way during its 55 years of presence in Greece.
The Group fleet currently consists of 627
aircrafts – and expanding… another 295 airplanes are on order, valued at
more than 36 billion euros at list prices and scheduled for delivery until
2025. Lufthansa doesn’t
rest on its laurels, but keeps evolving and investing resources in quality and
service for its guests and adopting new structures and innovative business
models to tap into new growth opportunities and new customer groups. All in
all, in 2014 the Group invested EUR 2.2 billion in modernizing and maintaining
its aircraft fleet. Efforts and investments continue, aiming to achieve its
objective of becoming the first Western
five-star airline.
Lufthansa’s flights to/from Greece – Summer 2015
Munich -
Athens
|
23 per
week
|
Frankfurt
- Athens
|
21 per
week
|
Munich -
Heraklion
|
1 per
week
|
Lufthansa Group’s flights
to/from Greece - Summer 2015
Lufthansa
|
45 per week
|
SWISS
|
35 per week
|
Austrian
|
14 per week
|
Brussels
|
3 per week
|
Germanwings
|
61 per week
|
Lufthansa Group
|
158 per week
|