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Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr has argued that the need to maintain connectivity trumps most other concerns as he spoke out in support of the airline industry. The CEO says despite challenges thrown up by geopolitics, economics, and environmental concerns, the world needs to stay connected more than ever.
Carsten Spohr told CNN Business airspace closures in and around Europe were causing huge headaches for his Frankfurt-based airline. “There are huge operational challenges to reroute traffic either southbound or in our case, coming home from Tokyo, we are leaving eastbound from Tokyo to arrive via Greenland into Europe … things we haven’t done in decades.”
Lighter intercontinental traffic makes the current Lufthansa workaround possible
But finding a rare silver lining in lighter than usual intercontinental airline traffic between Europe and Asia because of the pandemic’s lingering after effects, the Lufthansa CEO said that lighter traffic was making their current Ukraine and Russia workarounds possible,
“It’s also fair to say all this is only possible in a smooth way because of the limited amount of flights from Europe to and from Asia. If we had normal volumes there would be huge operational challenges. One way or another, the industry would solve it but right now, the airspace is sufficient to provide customers with the service we do, even though flying times are up to two hours longer,” Carsten Spoor said.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr. Photo: Lufthansa
Connectivity trumps environmental concerns
But when the conversation moved on to the environmental and economic costs of longer flights, Lufthansa’s CEO said the need for connectivity trumps both those concerns.
“We all agree, including the passengers onboard, that connectivity in this case is a higher priority. We cannot allow ourselves to be cut off from Asia – and the same applies to the US. It shows the value of our industry, even with additional environmental or financial burdens, connectivity is key to keeping this world as peaceful as possible, and it’s our industry that’s providing it,” he said.
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Just days ago, Carsten Spohr argued European airlines argued tackling sustainability challenges must not mean that Europe’s airlines become competitively disadvantaged.
“As Europeans, we’re not able to defend ourselves anymore, we’re not able to provide our own energy anymore,” he said at an Airlines for Europe meeting. “Let’s at least make sure we can connect ourselves.” Mr Spoor teamed up with competitors from IAG, easyJet, and Ryanair to call for more state support to help decarbonize the airline industry.
The Lufthansa CEO says in uncertain times, the need for connectivity is greater than ever. Photo: Lufthansa
Despite security concerns in Europe, people keep flying
The security crisis in Europe reinforces that security pips environmental concerns – not just in the airline industry but elsewhere. Protecting property (in this case, aircraft) and maintaining liquidity are top tier priorities. Lufthansa is optimistic at least the upcoming Easter holidays will at least boost the latter.
Over the first weekend of the holidays, Lufthansa is expecting 225,000 passengers to fly in and out of Frankfurt alone on some 1,500 flights. The sunshine destinations around the Mediterranean are in strong demand, but Lufthansa also reports bookings to its US destinations are strong. The good news is those US flights won’t be rerouted and won’t pump any more carbon emissions into the environment than usual.
Source: CNN Business
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