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LUFTHANSA SEES ONLY THREE GREAT COMPANIES IN EUROPE
BERLIN (Reuters) – Lufthansa's CEO says there are still too many airlines in Europe and he expects the German airline to help further consolidate the sector, which could ultimately be brought back to three giants on the Old Continent.
"There are far too many players in Europe," Carsten Spohr told a meeting in Berlin by CAPA-Center for Aviation, noting that six airlines have gone bankrupt in recent months.
"It is clear that the consolidation will increase and we, as Lufthansa, want to be part of it," he added.
Lufthansa has recently been very active in mergers and acquisitions, including the acquisition in 2016 of Brussels Airlines and, last year, badets of Air Berlin as part of its strategy to develop its subsidiary low cost Eurowings .
For Carsten Spohr, like what happened in China, America and the Middle East where there are essentially three large companies per market, Europe should experience the same evolution.
"There will probably be three major European network operators or groups of operators, plus one or two low-cost operators," he said.
"Our job at Lufhtansa (…) is to make sure that the company is sufficiently prepared to play in this league of world champions."
Carsten Spohr notes that consolidation seems to be more the result of bankruptcy rather than discussions between competing companies.
Lufthansa is one of the many airlines to discuss with Rome since Alitalia was placed under special administration.
Carsten Spohr considers it important to preserve some national brands even within larger ensembles. He notes, for example, that pbadengers still appreciate the "Swiss character" of the German group's SWISS subsidiary, ten years after it bought the Swissair historic airline.
"Here in Europe, brands are still very important," he said.
(Emma Thombadon, Claude Chendjou for French service, edited by Benoît Van Overstraeten)
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