Carsten Spohr travel tips

As 2023 is wrapping up, the aviation business is heating up instead of slowing down. Airlines are ordering aircraft, and Boeing and Airbus are trying to up their order tally. It is not surprising that we are still hearing of new orders. 

Lufthansa on Thursday reported quarterly profits slightly above analysts’ consensus on the back of robust travel demand this summer and said bookings remained strong ahead of the busy Christmas holiday season.

The Airbus A380 is continuing its improbable comeback with the world’s leading airlines. Last month we got a look at Emirates popular new A380 Premium Economy cabin selected by more than 160,000 flyers. This month, Lufthansa announced that not only would its formerly parked A380 aircraft fly into the 2030s, but that it would upgrade them with a brand-new Business Class cabin.

The CEO of bankrupt Scandinavian airline SAS, Anko Van der Werff, does not see the carrier’s position in the northern European market as “diminished” by recent market share grabs from the likes of Norwegian Air and Ryanair.

German flag carrier Lufthansa recently launched an advertising campaign around the FIFA World Cup. As part of the initiative, the airline published a one-minute video short called The Great Swap. A camera swoops around distinct cities, airports, streets,and landscapes, showing the alleged biggest jersey swap of all time. 

The Lufthansa Group has made an offer to buy a 40 percent stake in Italy’s state-owned ITA Airways, it said Wednesday. The bid comes after a multi-year process, or “beauty contest” as it has been called, to find a strategic partner for ITA, and a dramatic change of fortune for Lufthansa after being counted out last August.

Travelers surged back to planes last year in numbers unseen since the beginning of the pandemic. That was good news for airlines that, facing a myriad of challenges, were unable to resume flights quite as fast, which drove up fares — and revenues too. It also, however, brought an unwelcome surge in costs. 

The U.S. aims to increase visa interview appointments for Indian students by 30 percent this summer, said U.S. Consul General Mike Hankey during his recent visit to the country. “Last year, we sent more than 1.25 lakh Indian students to the U.S., setting a new record for Indian students going to the U.S. in a year and establishing India as the leading country of sending students. This year we are trying to increase that number (of students) further,” he told news agency Press Trust of India. In another development, the U.S. visitor visa wait times in India dropped by 50 percent — from an average of 669 days in mid-March to 337 days in early April — according to the U.S. Travel Association. The industry lobby group attributed the wait time reduction to the U.S. State Department’s initiatives this year to reduce the visa backlog, such as bringing processing staff in on weekends, making overseas embassies available to Indian nationals in other countries and hiring more staff. Applicants in India had an especially absurd wait time. In January, for example, they had to wait 999 days for an interview at the Mumbai embassy. 

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, May 4. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Lufthansa finally has a deal. For ITA Airways that is, and according to reports.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, August 4. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Nothing, it seems, can slow the Lufthansa Group down. Robust travel demand, particularly for its premium offerings, drove record profits in the second quarter and has lifted its outlook for the rest of the year.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, August 23. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.