German airline Lufthansa said it plans to capitalise on demand in key United States markets by expanding transatlantic flights and promoting its new premium seating.
"We have been able to shift our point of sales to almost 60% now coming from the U.S. and only 40% from Europe, which used to be the other way around for many years," CEO Carsten Spohr told Reuters.
He said the U.S. expansion has mainly stemmed from smaller cities, as opposed to large hubs like New York.
For example, the airline plans to expand its Frankfurt–Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, service to daily flights next year, up from three per week, and its Frankfurt-St. Louis, Missouri, routes to five weekly flights, up from three.
The airline has also unveiled its new Allegris seat, which could lead to double-digit growth in yields for its premium products, according to Spohr.
He said the new Allegris seats will allow the airline to “take advantage of that focus on premium traffic”.
Spohr hopes those new planes will help stimulate growth, which has been hampered in recent years by delayed deliveries from planemakers Boeing and Airbus.
These delays have contributed to losses for the airline as it lags behind competitors like Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG.
Spohr said he anticipates travel demand remaining steady and ticket prices to stay stable or grow.
"I would assume prices to be stable, at least, because you see that the very healthy demand environment around the world in almost all our markets hits a somewhat limited supply due to delayed deliveries of airplanes," he said.
