World Monitor Magazine Spring | Page 38

EXPERT OPINION Services of high standards on board and on the ground According to independent expertise of Skytrax, Lufthansa has been receiving multiple awards several years in a row. In 2017 Lufthansa has been awarded first place in three categories: ‘Best Airline in Europe’, ‘Best Airline in Western Europe’ and ‘Best First Class Lounge Dining’. Could you, please, tell more about the factors that determined such success? Dirk Grossmann, General Manager, Lufthansa German Airlines The Lufthansa Group is steadfast in its pursuit of sustainable business practice. We focus on our customers and their travel needs. Long- term value creation and prudent management of opportunities and risks is essential for us. Safety and service are our top priority and our customers’ satisfaction is a measure of what we do. We are honored that this has been recognized and awarded again. High standards of products and services on board and on the ground is the continuous principle of work for Lufthansa globally. What principles do you consider the most significant? Which of them influence passengers’ flow the most in Kazakhstan? For already more than 25 years Lufthansa German Airlines is proud to offer our services in the Kazakh market. Focusing on our customer’s needs we developed our services during these years by adopting our services and schedules by closely following the successful development of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 36 world monitor As a consequence, today Lufthansa offers flights daily, not only from Almaty, but also three times a week from Astana on a modern Airbus A330, directly to Frankfurt and further to 1300 destinations in 190 countries worldwide with our Star Alliance Partners. Just recently Lufthansa signed a code sharing agreement with the National Kazakhstan carrier Air Astana on directions to and from Astana, Atyrau, Uralsk. Especially the fast developing West Kazakhstan Region is benefitting from this new partnership. Following the needs of our travellers, we’ve introduced the Premium Economy Class in 2015, which became quite a success in the market. We were first to introduce the internet on board, but this is meanwhile already standard. Almost 1000 local companies are members of our corporate program 'PartnerPlusBenefit' and almost 50,000 passengers use the individual bonus program 'Miles & More'. So , our Lufthansa team has been hard at work and obviously successful in establishing our service in the Kazakh market. What are the particular features that attract clients to the Lufthansa fleet? With over 700 aircraft we maintain one of the world’s largest and most modern fleets. We invest continuously in modernising our fleet. By 2025, 222 new aircraft