The Aviation Oscar goes to...

Lufthansa!

At the beginning of December, the renowned aviation experts from Skytrax awarded Lufthansa the coveted five star quality seal. Never before has an airline outside of Asia received this award. Edward Plaisted, Chief Executive Officer of Skytrax: “Lufthansa is the first European airline to have been admitted to the ranks of the five-star airlines. This is not only a high distinction, but also expresses great recognition for the progress that the airline has made in recent years, especially with regards to service.” The testers from Skytrax assess hundreds of aspects both on the ground and in the air, including on-board service, seat comfort, catering, security measures and inflight entertainment.

A380 maintenance

Lufthansa counts on Dresden

Lufthansa sends two of its Airbus A380 aircraft to the so-called Intermediate Layover Check at Dresden: over a period of several weeks, the Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) checks the aircraft, dismantles large aircraft components such as landing flaps and completely disassembles cabin parts such as seats, kitchens, and toilets. The maintenance assignment represents an important element for EFW, in order to safeguard its more than 7,000 jobs.

2017

The safest year in commercial civil aviation

Passenger numbers have been rising continuously for many years. At the same time, the number of fatally injured has decreased: in 2017 a total of 79 people lost their lives, which historically equates to a new world safety record. Among these were 44 passengers and crew members, as well as 35 people who were killed due to a cargo plane that crashed during landing in Bischek/Kyrgyzstan. In Europe there were no accidents which resulted in death in commercial civil aviation.

The statistical probability of being killed by a plane crash in 2017 was found to be 1 to 92.7 million. In the 1970s, the ratio was still at 1 to 264,000. Safety has therefore increased by a factor of 350. This development underlines the efforts that aircraft manufacturers, airlines, airports and air traffic control are making to reach a maximum level of safety.

Climate protection ranking

Lufthansa Group takes the top spot

The climate protection strategy of the Lufthansa Group focuses on transparency and effective measures. This is being recognised - in mid-October, the renowned, non-profit rating organisation CDP once again awarded the Lufthansa Group for their achievements in the field of climate protection. The Group’s extensive reporting on CO2 emissions, reduction strategies and measures, as well as climate risks has been evaluated with an A rating. With this, the Group achieved the “Leadership Status” and belongs both to the top group in the airline industry as well as to the top group of global industrial companies.

Just a few weeks later, the Lufthansa Group once again received “Prime" status in the oekom Corporate Rating of November 2017, and thus belongs to the group of 69 rated companies in the sector known as the “Industry Leaders” group. In the rating process, the social and environmental performance of companies is assessed based on more than 100 industry-specific selected social and environmental criteria.

Berlin

New York back on the TXL flight schedule again

Since the beginning of November, Lufthansa has been connecting Germany's capital city with New York 5 times a week. This means that Berlin, after Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf and Cologne is the fifth German city from which the Lufthansa Group now offers flights to the USA. No other European airline flies to the USA from so many of its home locations.

Punctuality

research project with the DLR

The DLR and Lufthansa Systems are jointly involved in a research project on a robust flight plan. The goal: to optimise flight planning for increasing passenger flows, faster aircraft and disruptions during the process. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Change in Lufthansa Corporate International Relations and Government Affairs

from Thomas Kropp to Kay Lindemann

From March 2018, Dr Kay Lindemann will be the new Head of Corporate International Relations and Government Affairs as well as authorised representative of Lufthansa Group’s Executive Board. He succeeds Thomas Kropp, who has headed the Corporate International Relations and Government Affairs division since 2002 – for four Chief Executive Officers – and has reached retirement age and will retire from the Lufthansa Group after almost 24 years. Kropp, a lawyer, came to Lufthansa in 1995 and was Head of the EU Representative Office in Brussels until 2002. He had previously been Head of the Representative Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Buenos Aires.

Among other things belonging to the Corporate International Relations and Government Affairs division, there are political representations in Berlin, Brussels, Beijing and Moscow, as well as the Group's environmental department. Since 2010, Dr Kay Lindemann was a member of the executive board of the German Association of Automotive Industry (VDA) and responsible for the areas of economic policy, markets, climate protection, transport policy and European politics. He previously held different positions for the Federation of German Industries (BDI) from 2002, including Head of the Department of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications. He studied law in Germany and in the UK.