More Passengers for Lufthansa
Published: April 27, 2011 (Issue # 1653)
Lufthansa saw a 10-percent increase in passenger volumes from St. Petersburg last year, prompting Germany’s national carrier to introduce bigger airplanes for its six daily flights from the city to Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich beginning this summer.
“The year 2010 was very positive for Lufthansa’s business in St. Petersburg, so we decided to introduce higher capacity planes for our flights from the city,” Ronald Schultz, regional director of Lufthansa for Russia and CIS countries, said at a press conference in St. Petersburg last week.
Last year, Lufthansa served 380,000 passengers at Pulkovo airport, setting a new record for the airline in the city.
“Such figures put St. Petersburg at the top positions of Lufthansa’s presence in Russian cities,” Schultz said.
“In fact, if such a successful trend continues, we may consider either introducing more flights from St. Petersburg or adding a new route from the city to Germany next year,” he said.
Schultz said Lufthansa hopes to attract from two million to 2.5 million passengers in St. Petersburg this year.
The company said it also registered high demand for online services in St. Petersburg last year. Compared to 2009, sales through the company’s web site doubled, Schultz said.
Lufthansa also presented its Russian-language iPhone application last week. The service allows passengers to check-in, book flights, check schedules and collect air miles.
“The owners of iPhones and smart phones can now use Internet on board our planes, though they can’t use them as phones — we have disabled that function,” Schultz said.
Aage Dunhaupt, director of International Communications for Lufthansa, said the company invests a lot of money in new airplanes, which can be both economically and ecologically more efficient, since they use less fuel.