The final verdict was issued by the competition committee at the E.U. and now Austrian Airlines will become a part of Lufthansa, joining Swiss to complete the German-speaking airline trifecta. This gives Lufthansa a solid footing in all air transportation routes connecting central Europe.
Lufthansa had to give up some flights on the routes between Vienna and Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne and Brussels for competition reasons in order to win approval of the E.U.
Austrian Airlines gives Lufthansa excellent coverage of Romaina, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, the Czech and Slovak Republics and new routes to Asia. The coverage strengthens Lufthansa’s hand in that region and doesn’t overlap much with the other pieces of Lufthansa’s other owned airlines — Swiss and Brussels Airlines. Plus, Austrian Airlines is already a member if the Star Alliance, so integration there will be seamless.
Interestingly, Lufthansa that had earlier purchased a controlling interest in bmi (formerly British Midlands) in order to secure Heathrow landing and takeoff slots, is putting that airline up for sale. I haven’t heard whether Lufthansa is keeping a handful of slots for itself as it proceeds with the sale.
Another note: Lufthansa and Swiss (and presumably Austrian) are committed to keeping luxurious first class options open to business travelers. Lufthansa has even gone so far as to build a separate first class terminal in Frankfurt. At the same time Air France/KLM, the other European airline powerhouse, is looking at making its fleet one-class service for many of its flights.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
