The German carrier Lufthansa is looking to further expand capacity to China, after resuming flights to Shanghai to pre-Covid levels. “For Lufthansa, China is one of the most important markets in the world outside Europe. We are pretty happy that we already received pre-pandemic capacity here in Shanghai,” said Jens Ritter, CEO of Lufthansa Airlines. “Hopefully in the next couple of years we can extend our network also here in China.” Having a strong connection and close relationship between Germany and China, Lufthansa will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2026, as well as the carrier’s first connection between the two countries. “I think it is a great relationship we have here for almost 100 years. There’s a strong connection between the fourth-biggest economy in the world, Germany, and the second-biggest economy China,” Ritter said. “We are pretty proud of our strong connection. We truly believe in the recovery of air travel between Germany and China for the next years.”
Currently operating the most flights to China among all European carriers, Lufthansa offers 40 weekly direct connections between the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich to the Chinese cities of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing in the summer time. “In comparison to last year, we increased our capacity by over 70%,” added Ritter. “Hopefully next year with the introduction of new aircraft we can increase this capacity further.” The expanding capacity is accompanied by a rapid recovery in the passenger load factor, “especially during the summer time with a seat factor of more than 90%,” Ritter said.
In a bid to boost the China travel market during the holiday season and further enhance the customer experience onboard, Shanghai was the airline’s first Asian destination, as well as the fourth worldwide following Vancouver, Toronto and Chicago, to introduce the carrier’s brand-new cabin products on a daily basis since August 14. Under the name, Lufthansa Allegris, the completely new travel experience is available on select long-haul routes. “I think also the Chinese people would like to have a choice. One standard product does not fulfill the needs of the premium sector of Chinese people. They would like to have more individuality, more possibility for exclusivity and they would like to choose. We are pretty happy to introduce our new Allegris product because we definitely believe that this will fulfill the needs of our Chinese customers,” Ritter said. “Germany has a strong connection with China, because so many companies from Germany are based here in China,” Ritter said. “It is a long lasting relationship and we truly believe in those two economies and we need to tie them.”
Germany’s direct investment in China totaled €2.48 billion in the first three months of 2024, and the figure rose substantially to €4.8 billion in the second quarter, the China Daily reports.
