Lufthansa to mentor Air India's entry into the Star Alliance grouping
17 Oct 2008
New Delhi: German flag carrier Lufthansa said Friday it would mentor Indian flag carrier Air India's moves to become a Star Alliance member. The Star Alliance is a global grouping of top airlines.
"Lufthansa is the mentor for Air India and we will work together to get the latter on board the Star Alliance," the carrier's director for operations in the Indian sub-continent, Werner Heesen, said in New Delhi.
Heesen denied there were any financial investment plans for India. "Financial investments are not on the strategic map of Lufthansa for India," he said.
He said Lufthansa was currently operating 55 flights, from seven Indian cities, to three destinations in Germany--Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.
At least 60 per cent of the bookings on all Lufthansa flights were from travellers of Indian origin. "Indians form about two-thirds of the total passengers on our flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune," Heesen said.
"Also, we are ensuring that Indians get to feel at home by including all types of Indian cuisine, Indian attendants speaking the languages of different regions and in-flight entertainment with local content," he added.