The Hindu Business Line : Lufthansa launches Kolkata-Frankfurt service

SMOOTH TAKE-OFF : The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, receiving a book on Kolkata from Mr Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, Lufthansa Airlines, to commemorate the inaugural flight of the airlines on Saturday. The Union Minister for External Affairs, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, is also seen. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Kolkata , Dec 2

Lufthansa German Airlines on Saturday commenced its first-ever, non-stop service between Kolkata and Frankfurt.

With the launch of this thrice-a-week service, India has become the only country in the airline's Asia Pacific network to be served through six gateways, i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. With the launch of the Kolkata-Frankfurt flight, the airline now operates 45 flights weekly between India and Germany.

Incidentally, Kolkata was the first destination in India from where Lufthansa commenced scheduled operations on November 1,1959.

The inaugural flight from Frankfurt today landed in Kolkata in the wee hours of the morning with a 45-member VIP delegation on board, some of whom were representing the German travel industry. They are working on plans to bring tourists from Europe to West Bengal, Nepal and Myanmar, among other places of tourist interest in the region. On the Frankfurt-Kolkata sector, the airline will operate an Airbus A340-300 aircraft with a configuration of eight First Class, 48 Business Class and 165 Economy Class seats.

Revenues

Addressing a news conference here, Mr Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice-President, Marketing & Sales and Member of the Executive Board, Lufthansa German Airlines, said Asia Pacific accounted for 20 per cent of Lufthansa's global revenues. India contributes to 18-20 per cent of Lufthansa's Asia Pacific revenues and, as a market in the region, ranked second after Japan.

Sixty per cent of the passengers travelling between India and Germany were people of Indian origin even as 40 per cent of passengers travelling out of India fly onwards to the US from Frankfurt. "Mr Antinori said on the India-Frankfurt sector, the airline's market share was higher than its capacity share. With the business environment in India getting more buoyant, Lufthansa was open to the idea of launching flights to more destinations in India, he said.