Lufthansa may offer dedicated credit card to Indian customers

Giving a new dimension to its India operations, German airline Lufthansa has said it was in talks with several companies to provide a dedicated credit card to its Indian customers. The company also announced its interest in grabbing ground handling contracts in the airports at Hyderabad and Mumbai. When the plan is implemented, the premier carrier would become the first international airline to launch a credit/ travel card in the country. So far, domestic carriers like Indian and Jet Airways offer such cards. "We are planning to launch a credit card as there is a potential market for it. We are currently talking to five to seven firms in this regard," Company's Executive Vice President (Marketing & Sales) Thierry Antinori said. The German carrier is also planning to use the largest aircraft Airbus A-380 to service the India routes. Regarding ground handling at Hyderabad and Mumbai airports, he said tenders had been issued for the contracts by these two airports and "we are examining them .... Lufthansa could float a Joint Venture company to bid for them".

Lufthansa is already part of the airport service provider, GlobeGround India Pvt Ltd, in partnership with the Bird Group. GlobeGround provides passenger services, aircraft and cargo handling at major Indian airports. The airline was looking forward to fresh bilateral air services negotiations between India and Germany next year, Antinori said in the launch of the first direct Kolkata-Frankfurt flight. He expected expansion of its India network from six destinations at present to ten in the next three-four years. The top official of Lufthansa, which had rights to operate 50 flights from India each week, but was only running 45 at present, said the airline was operating large aircraft like Boeing 747-400s and A-340s on this sector. "We are looking at fresh round of negotiations (on upgrading the air services agreement) in 2007. Both countries have in principle agreed to expand their air services," he said.

Antinori indicated that new destinations in India were being considered, but refused to name them and said: "We have five to six Indian cities on our radar". He said, additional frequencies could also be added from the existing six Indian cities in the near future. Considering the "double-digit" air traffic growth projection for India in the next three-four years, he said they would consider operating the largest aircraft A-380 on this sector. "We have almost doubled our frequencies from 23 to 45 between 2003 and 2006 and we plan to double our activities in the next five to six years", he said, adding it would depend on a mix of fleet, network and traffic decisions. Lufthansa, which first landed its aircraft way back in 1934 at Jodhpur, is also expanding its fleet by acquiring five additional aircraft that would be inducted soon. The airline offers scheduled freighter services to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. It's subsidiary LSG Sky Chefs, has opened its latest in-flight catering centre in Hyderabad and Bangalore, besides other major metros. The Lufthansa group has also tied up with Bird Group to provide data processing services for the global travel industry.

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