Lufthansa: starting an Indian domestic airline would be a ‘misadventure’
Sunday, 19 Apr, 2017
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Responding to a question of whether it would consider launching an Indian domestic airline unit, German carrier Lufthansa said that would be a ‘misadventure.’
It baulked at the possibility due to high costs and even higher competition forcing down airfares.
"You only go make business when you have business plans which give you hope that you can be very successful," said Wolfgang Will, a senior director for South Asia at Lufthansa,
"And I did not hear up to now of any domestic airline in India making a lot of profit."
The Indian aviation market is slated to become the world’s third largest by 2020 and there has been no shortage of mostly India based companies keen to establish new aviation startups.
After a recent rule change on foreign direct investment, Qatar Airways said it plans to establish an Indian domestic unit.
As Lufthansa noted, few airlines make a profit despite India outpacing every other country for air travel growth for the last two years.
Lufthansa did previously operate a joint venture in India called ModiLuft but that folded in the 1990s after disputes with partners, local oil suppliers and the Airports Authority of India.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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