LUFTHANSA AND BRUSSELS AIRLINES JOIN HANDS TO MARKET AFRICAN DESTINATIONS
(Posted 17th July 2018)
- One face to the customer: Lufthansa Group integrates its sales activities in Africa for all its airlines
- New sub-Saharan sales headquarters established in Brussels
- All Brussels Airlines sales offices in Africa to become part of Lufthansa Group sales organization
Lufthansa Group carriers Brussels Airlines, Austrian, Edelweiss, Eurowings, Lufthansa and SWISS have decided to fully integrate their sales activities in Africa. The group’s airlines have already aligned their sales structures for corporate customers and travel agencies in many markets worldwide and now will the integration be continued in Africa, as another important milestone towards having “one face to the customer” and offering harmonized products and services across the globe.
New sales headquarters for sub-Saharan Africa in Brussels
Brussels Airlines has a strong presence and expertise in Africa, with a dense network of 24 destinations, especially in West and Central Africa. To share this experience and in order to support the integration and leverage synergies and efficiencies within the Lufthansa Group, the headquarters for all sales activities in sub-Saharan Africa will be located in Brussels at the Brussels Airlines headquarters.
“With our long-standing experience in the African market and our very engaged employees, we perfectly complement the Lufthansa Group sales presence in Africa and especially in the Sub-Saharan part of the continent. Our joint customers will now benefit from an increased flexibility thanks to a global offer, covering the entire Lufthansa Group Africa network”, commented Christina Foerster, CEO of Brussels Airlines on the new structure.
“One face to the customer”
With this joint commercial set-up, the existing local sales teams in Africa will take over responsibilities for all airline brands of the Group. “Customers will benefit from a single point of contact and a continued local presence. This enables us to be close to our markets and customers, to serve their specific needs and to develop harmonized offerings in the future” says Dr. Stefan Kreuzpaintner, Vice President Sales EMEA of the Lufthansa Group. “Our sales colleagues can now offer all our brands, with joint products and packages”.
Lufthansa Group focuses on Africa
Africa is a strategic growth area for the Lufthansa Group as all carriers operate to and from this continent. With the full acquisition of Brussels Airlines in January 2017 the Lufthansa Group extended its route network in Africa from 21 to 44 destinations. Brussels Airlines fits perfectly into the existing Group network due to its strong focus on Africa and being a recognized competence leader in operating to African destinations in West and East Africa.
Today, the combined Lufthansa Group is the second largest European airline group in Africa, offering a total of 311 weekly departures between Europe and Africa.
Starting in the upcoming 2018/19 winter schedule, the Lufthansa Group will increase its offering in Africa:
Austrian Airlines will open new Vienna – Cape Town (South Africa) route, offering two flights per week.
Lufthansa will change its Frankfurt – Addis Ababa connection to a non-stop service, with a reduced flight time by more than two hours.
Brussels Airlines presently serves Entebbe in Uganda six times a week from the European capital with one flight routing via Bujumbura / Burundi and five routing via Kigali / Rwanda. All flights are operated with Airbus A330 aircraft and as the operating leases begin to expire later this year will Brussels Airlines get brand new A330’s with a state of the art new cabin interior, also likely to feature a separate Premium Economy cabin.
