A Perfect Landing

Not to put too fine a point on it, Lufthansa is setting a course for a busy summer out of Canada in 2014. The carrier celebrated the launch of its new Toronto-Munich flight late last week and in mid-May, it marked the launch of Montreal-Frankfurt service. Both flights are seasonal, operating daily through to the end of October.

Of the Toronto-Munich launch, Hans De Haan, director, Lufthansa Group Canada, said, “This reflects Lufthansa’s commitment to the Canadian market and the high level of demand we are seeing here. The new route is a great addition to our services by adding more than 1,500 additional seats to Germany and beyond every week.”

Lufthansa will use Airbus A330-300 aircraft for the flights, that will feature the carrier’s new First and Business Class and a configuration that includes 8 First Class seats; 48 Business Class seats; and 161 Economy Class seats.

Asked about the commitment that the carrier has made to the Canadian market, DeHaan said, “We don’t put aircraft into cities if we don’t feel we can sell the capacity. There’s a lot of confidence at the head office for Canada, so we’ve increased the capacity and it’s exciting times.”

In total, Lufthansa will be operating 42 flights weekly this summer and clearly, that’s a sign of just how well things are going for the carrier out of Canada.

Lufthansa’s vice-president, the Americas, Juergen Siebenrock said of the expansion of its operations in Canada that “in general we see good demand in both directions.”

“For the last 2 years,” Siebenrock said, “my team here has been pushing me for extra flights. So we started off with Vancouver-Munich. A couple of weeks ago, [we launched] Montreal-Frankfurt and now we have Toronto-Munich.”

He noted as well that Lufthansa’s business out of Canada has been “growing steadily,” not just due to its own strength, but also due to the support that it has received from Air Canada.

“It would have only been possible with Air Canada,” Siebenrock said, “it is very important to say that growth like this can only happen if you have a very strong partner in the market because you need the feed.”

Watch for more on Lufthansa growth in Canada in an upcoming issue of Canadian Travel Press.