The German Airline group is planning to strengthen its partnership with Indian airlines like Vistara and Air India in 2020. Looking to boost its presence in India, the Lufthansa had a strong relationship with Jet Airways previously, but after the airlines demise earlier this year, the German group is looking for other airlines to act as feeder services to its main Indian ports.
Currently, with Lufthansa having an interline agreement with Vistara. This allows passengers to check-in their luggage at the first airport itself for the whole journey consisting of flights of both airlines. Moreover, apart from launching a Munich-Bengaluru flight service in April, the airline does not plan to start any other flight service in 2020, said George Ettiyil, Senior Director, South Asia Lufthansa Group.
He further added:
“ With Vistara, we are strengthening our relationship in the weeks to come. Jet Airways was one of our partners here in India and with then having left the scene, we are looking for Indian airlines to partner up with”.
In April, the Lufthansa Group announced its intention to “strengthen” its partnerships with Indian airlines, such as Vistara and Air India, in 2020 after the closure of Jet Airways.#airindia #jetairways #stockmarketnews
— Shilpa Reddy (@silpareddy10) November 24, 2019
With a codeshare agreement in place between Lufthansa and Air India, allowing ticket booking for passengers through one ticketing system, the German group is trying to strengthen its relationship with both Vistara and Air India, so they can bring passengers from second and third-tier cities to their four gateways. Making it abundantly clear that Lufthansa is not looking to grow in terms of fleet capacity immediately. The airline hopes to concentrate only on the Munich to Bengaluru route launching on April 1, 2020.
Continuing to sponsor the annual Startup Expo, which is organised in collaboration with TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) in Delhi, the group is open to establishing commercial partnerships with startups in future, if relevant to the airline ecosystem.
Ettiyil added: