Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Christoph Franz met Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal and civil aviation ministry officials in New Delhi earlier this month. The meeting was significant in the backdrop of Jet Airways’ plans to start services to Frankfurt and Munich from Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore in the winter schedule.
Lufthansa has 46 weekly flights from five Indian cities, whereas Air India, the only other airline with direct flights to Germany, has flights between Delhi-Frankfurt.
Jet’s plans to launch Germany service could be step towards integrating the airline into Lufthansa-led Star Alliance. The Alliance has been keen to include Jet Airways in the grouping and wanted it to join the alliance along with Air India, but the national carrier objected to Jet Airways getting entry into the alliance. Air India’s membership into the Alliance was put on hold last year.
Jet did not comment on the airline’s Germany plans and the meeting between Goyal and Franz.
Lufthansa confirmed Franz’s India visit but did not share details. In its statement, Lufthansa said, “It is only natural that Lufthansa is in regular contact with the key leaders of the industry in India and everywhere where the demand for global mobility is rising, as Lufthansa is committed to further strengthen the good relations and its position in the market.’’