More Lufthansa flights to India

The Lufthansa Passenger Airline Group that consists of Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Airlines as members besides Lufthansa, will increase the frequency of its flights operating to and from India.

Lufthansa Group will operate 78 weekly flights to India when its winter schedule begins on October 29 this year.

The airline group will increase the frequency of its flights between New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore and Kolkata in India and Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich and Vienna in Europe. Lufthansa flights in the Pune-Frankfurt sector will be operated four times a week in the winter schedule as opposed to the current schedule of three times per week.

The carrier will also replace the Airbus A340-300 aircrafts that are currently employed in the Chennai-Frankfurt sector with larger Airbus A340-600 aircrafts. The newer aircrafts are capable of accommodating 80 additional passengers and will be operated for six days every week in the Chennai-Frankfurt sector that is presently served daily.

The airline had earlier reduced its business class seating capacity on flights departing from Pune from 56 to 32 while increasing the total seating capacity to 92 seats. It had also reduced the frequency of operations in the Pune-Frankfurt sector from six flights per week to three weekly flights in its summer schedule.

Swiss Airlines will increase its flight operations between New Delhi and Zurich from six flights per week to a daily flight service. The carrier will also operate a daily flight service to Zurich from Mumbai as part of the winter schedule, up from its current schedule of five flights per week. Austrian Airlines will increase its India-bound flights as well, with a service connecting Mumbai and Vienna with five weekly flights.

Lufthansa is currently in the process of upgrading its fleet at a cost of 13 billion euros. The airline will purchase new aircrafts that offer better fuel efficiency and will also introduce an Internet service called Flynet on its network of international routes.

However, the airline’s increase in operations can be attributed to the recovery of the global economy that has increased air travel. The aviation sector had faced revenue losses of Rs 37,26,000-crore ($81 billion) at the beginning of the financial meltdown in 2008. This year, revenues in the sector have increased by Rs 28,520 crore ($62 billion).

The improving economy has led other airlines to increase their operations to India as well. Air Asia, based in Malaysia, has recently included Hyderabad in its network that serves seven Indian destinations and will start operating flights to New Delhi by August as well. Sharjah-based Air Arabia has increased its frequency between Goa and UAE while FlyDubai, which began its flight operations to India with a service to Lucknow, is also set to expand its operations in the country.