Lufthansa stands firm on distribution charge

“It isn’t about a fee
but about changing the
distribution landscape,”
said Jens Bischof, chief
commercial officer of the
Lufthansa Group.
Jens was speaking about
Lufthansa’s controversial €16
(R242) distribution surcharge
in a ‘Global DCC’ webinar,
hosted by the Association of
Corporate Travel Executives
(Acte) on October 6.
He said Lufthansa
was aware that the new
distribution strategy was
disruptive “but we simply feel
that now is the right time to
trigger this change as new
technologies allow us to go
this way and new customer
demands and behaviour
require us to”.
The Lufthansa Group
was in advanced talks with
technology providers to
implement direct connect
functions for the trade, Jen
said. “We’re in talks with
TMCs to work together with
us on these solutions. I’m
confident that we’ll be able to
achieve significant progress
over the next couple of
weeks.”
Lufthansa would have liked
to engage the trade at an
earlier stage, Jens said, but
wasn’t able to as a result of
the confidentiality of its GDS
contracts. Lufthansa could
only reveal the details of its
strategy when it entered into
new contracts with the GDS,
he said.
Lufthansa plans to begin an
NDC pilot project by the end
of this year. Jens said the
NDC was a “great match” to
the Lufthansa Group’s new
strategy, as it would help the
airline overcome limitations
in distribution, such as
product differentiation.
“We firmly believe that
this is the right strategy
for forming sustainable
relationships with our travel
partners and corporate
customers in the future.
Airline distribution needs to
be modernised and more
cost-effective in order to be
fit for the future.”