Lufthansa decreasing capacity on Tel Aviv routes
German airline Lufthansa announced on Thursday that it
would significantly cut back on the number of flights to Tel Aviv as early as
October, this due to its "effort to increase the global profitability of
the fleet's activities.
The cuts will mean a 15% decrease in the seat capacity on
the airline's flights to and from Israel due to a move to Airbus A321 models.
It should be noted that the Airbus models which will be
used on the Israel-Germany routes from October will not be equipped with
entertainment systems.
The surprising move is being carried out due Lufthansa's
accumulating future reservations which currently stands at 168 planes worth
Euro 17 billion ($20.83 billion).
Within the framework of the perennial preparations of
this investment, it was decided that planes that serve long haul routes will
only be operated on longer routes and not on relatively short routes like the
Frankfurt-Tel Aviv and Munich-Tel Aviv routes.
Thus, from the next winter season (beginning on October
28, 2012) Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt and Munich to Tel Aviv (and back)
will be operated by Airbus A321 models. An Airbus A320 is already in use on the
Berlin-Tel Aviv route.
A Lufthansa spokesman told Ynet: "Lufthansa is
joining other airlines around the world with narrow-body aircrafts. This is a
15% cut in seat capacity on the planes and the reason for it is that the
company is investing huge amounts in new planes and must prepare itself
financially for the move."
The company further noted: "The Israeli market was
always and will continue to always be of the utmost importance to Lufthansa.
"Lufthansa intends to continue and increase the
flights to and from Israel and will approach the German authorities in order to
reopen the aviation agreements between Israel and Germany so that it would be
able to add flights on existing routes and open new routes.
"The company hopes that in the near future it will
be able to offer its customers four to five daily flights on routes between
Israel and Germany."
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