Lufthansa Broadband Internet Gains Popularity
Only four weeks after its launch on the Munich - Los Angeles route, Lufthansa FlyNet is now also available on routes to Asia. On Monday June 21 flight LH 714 from Munich to Tokyo marked the beginning of a new Internet era for passengers travelling to Asia. Over the coming weeks and months, FlyNet will be of_ered on further routes from Munich. Through the partnership with Connexion by Boeing, Lutthansa passengers can surf the World Wide Web, send and receive e-mails with attachments or set up a secure data connection to their company's Intranet or mail server via a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Wireless LAN (WLAN) allows easy and convenient inflight connectivity.
The response from passengers has been entirely positive. Matthias Krage, Managing Director of the Munich-based net-n-net agency says: "Lufthansa's new system is incredibly practical oecause it saves a ter rific amount of time." On the twelve-hour flight to Los Angeles, he communicates with his staff by e-mail and visits the websites for which his company is responsible. Michael H. Weisman, MD, of the Cedars-Sinai M' dical Center in Los Angeles uses the VPN connection to communicate via email with his office. It is an excellent opportunity for me to get my work done. In fact, that is why I flew this airline today."
The FlyNet portal, which was developed and is operated by Tomorrow Focus AG, can be used free of charge. It contains more than 1,000 pages of constantly updated news, the latest stock market reports and weather and travel information in German and Eng1ish.
Boundless energy and a thirst for adventure are the keys to success On 1 May 1926, the fledgling Luft Hansa operated the world's first night flight for passengers. The pilots took their bearings from a string of beacons on the ground along their route from Berlin to Konigsberg (present-day Kaliningrad). Despite having been founded only months earlier, in the January of that year, Luft Hansa advanced to the forefront of the aviation naffons. Further night-time routes west and southwards soon followed, and the once bold vision of regular long-haul flights to Moscow and Peking became reality.
To the present day, Lufthansa employees have remained a driving for.ce behind progress in aviation. For instance, Lufthansa was actively involved in the design of the advanced on-board systems for the Boeing 747-400. Lufthansa was also one of the first air.ines to deploy the Airbus A320 with its flyby- wire flight control system, and was the launching customer for the four-engine A340.
Throughout the world, Lufthansa stands for progress and innovations "Made in Germany". But Lufthansa is more than just a business enterprise. "Lufthansa is a prestige brand noted for quality and performance, and it plays an ambassadorial role," Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, told shareholders at the company's Annual General Meeting in Cologne.
"For this to remain so in future, political decision-makers at both a federal and state level must ensure planning security and dependability for air transport," Mayrhuber urged. "The double burden of additional taxes and charges that are envisaged will be lethal for Germany as an aviation location," he stressed. The very fact that we rank among the few growth industries in Germany that are doing more than their share of creating jobs should make it easy for the govemment to affirm its commitment to the aviation sector and to Lufthansa," Mayrhuber added.
Thanks to the "Air Traffic for Germany" initiative it had been possible, for the first time, to get industry partners and govemment representatives to sit down at the negotiating table and seek joint solutions to ensure Germany remains competitive. Although this was a positive sign, Mayrhuber wamed strongly against damaging the location. "Something must be amiss when the air transport industry, which not only plays its route costs in full but also helps suppliers who are often state-controlled to eam healthy profits, is forced to pay taxes in addition to infrastructural charges," the Lufthansa CEO said.
1 am glad that sense has prevailed as regards vocational training," Mayrhuber continued. It was senseless, he argued, to have to pay a training levy for highly-skilled, future-oriented professions simply because these do not figure in the official vocational training catalogue. Lulthansa played an exemplary role, particularly as regards training, and invested enormous sums in a wide range of apprenticeships. A compulsory levy for professions such as pilot or flight attendant was patently absurd, he said.
Security checks in airport departure terminals were the duty of the state, Mayrhuber argued Why should Lulthansa and its passengers be expected to pay for them? Steps should be taken to ensure that all the other transport providers were measured by the same yardstick. &~'thnc~ involved needed to strike a fair balance on this issue, he said.
2/3 Germany as an economic aviation base was being undermined by politicians' constant obsession with charges and fees, Mayrhuber said. "Charging value-added tax on intemational flights would totally distort competition with foreign airiines and would be tantamount to exporting jobs. The introduction of an aviation fuel tax only in Germany would drastically erode Lufthansa's competitive clout. The competition in Paris and London would have a field day." Taxes on kerosene or other emissions would do nothing more to protect the environment. Building the long-overdue extra take-off runway at Frankfurt would be a far more effective contribution to active environmental care, in which Lufthansa leads the world, the Lufthansa chairman said. Each year, Lufthansa wastes 33,000 tonnes of jet fuei circiing over the airport in holding pattems because of radical infrastructural deficiencies.
At his frst annual general meeting as Lutthansa Chairman and CEO, Mayrhuber presented a strategically and financially well-positioned company that can offer its shareholders exceilent future prospects. Despite a record loss in the first quarter of 2003, Lufthansa was still able to post an operating profit of 36 million euros for 2003. ~We were successful where most of our competitors have failed. We righted the ship and withstood market pressures," Mayrhuber stressed. We demonstrated stability at a turbulent time and simultaneously took important steps to shape the Group's direction in the future."
Mayrhuber is optimistic about the current financial year. Passenger volume, capacity utilisation and average yields have improved noticeably. The market for business traveilers has bottomed out and is now recovering. "Let me reassure you that we will do our utmost to be in a position to pay a dividend again in 2004. Provided the present trend takes root and strengthens, we should be able to turn in a significantly better operating profit and a positive net result at the close of 2004 - despite Germany's still ailing economy.n
In order to be able to grow proftably, the Group must reduce costs, increase flexibility and further raise productivity and quaiity. To that end, Lufthansa has developed an Action Plan. ~it is designed to save us 1.2 billion euros over the next two years on a sustainable basis, Mayrhuber said, adding that not only Lufthansa, but also the entire sector, must reforrn. UOur customers will not forever be willing to continue paying for complexities without added value or for inefficiencies. And as customers of Eurocontrol, of airports and suppliers, we must also demand more in the way of customer orientation.n
The air transport industry is a growth sector, and its prospects are good. About 1.6 billion people a year travel by air. This number is expected to rise to about 3.2 billion by 2025. In particular, EU enlargement in eastern Europe and economic developments in Asia offer immense opportunities for growth. UWe intend to share in those opportunities at a time of ground-breaking change in the entire airtine industry,n the Lufthansa chaimman said.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber is determined that all the aviation group's business segments will in future focus more sharply on their core business and will be trimmed in accordance with economic and strategic criteria. ~We will conffnue to actively steer our investments and subject all business interests and shareholdings to regular scrutiny. Proof of that came most recently in the disposal of Chef Solutions, LGM and Amadeus. Others in the same vein will follow when the time is right," Mayrhuber stressed. ~AII our business segments must make a contribution to sustainable value creation at the Group. That is the benchmark by which the shareholders can judge our perfommance."
Lufthansa offers its customers quality and innovation, safety and reliability and, with the Star Alliance, the best route network worldwide. The Executive Board and management are aware of their responsibility. "Not just their responsibility for the 45 million people who fly with us yearly, but also the responsibility for a workforce of more than 93,000 employees worldwide, and their job security. Responsibility towards Germany as an economic base that requires attractive, global economic connections now and in the future. And responsibility for retums on shareholders' investments. For shareholders' capital is the basis on which we build the perspectives for the company and for our country,~ Wolfgang Mayrhuber said in conclusion
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