Lufthansa justifies airlines fare disparity
The Lufthansa Airlines on Sunday said the economies of demand and supply had created foreign airlines’ fare disparity among African nations.
Mr Claus Becker, Managing Director, West and Central Africa of the airline, said this during an award tour of some travel agents in Lagos.
He said that products offered by the foreign airlines were also responsible for the high fares.
Becker said that the airline had introduced a new range of products in its various aircraft.
“We have the state of the art, first class; we have been winning Skyjet 5 Star awards for the best first class service and this is a very special product that we do have on our A380 aircraft.
“We have a full-fledged business class which is also state-of-the-art and that is already being introduced on the new Boeing 747-800 and the up-to-date economic class product,” he said.
Becker said that the airline would introduce more new products worldwide between 2013 and 2015.
According to him, the Nigerian passengers will get the new products, as the planes will fly into Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja.
“The passengers are sure of getting these new products, as well as other ones and then you have to consider a passenger who flies with Lufthansa from Nigeria to Frankfurt, Germany,’’ Becker said.
He said that the airline had employed Nigerians as part of its social responsibility to the country.
Becker said that employment was one of the major social responsibility issues supported by the company’s headquarters.
“We have the Memorandum of Understanding to train Nigerian flight attendants and the airline has been having a good relationship with travelling agents in the country,” he said.
Mr Bankole Bernard, the Managing Director, Finchglow Travelling Agent, urged the airline to assist in the training of travelling agents in Germany.
“We want the foreign airlines flying into Nigeria to do more in developing our people as we are considered as a strategic business partner in the aviation industry,” he said.
Bernard urged the Nigerian government to improve on its Open Skies policy with foreign airlines, saying that the aviation industry was improving.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that five travelling agents were awarded ‘Top Agent of the Year 2012’, ‘Premium Agent of the Year 2012’ and ‘Agent of the Year 2012’.
The agents were Finchglow Ltd., Touchdown Ltd., BCD Quantum, Travel Consult and Aeroland Travels.
(NAN)