“Bangalore is a booming centre for airline business and India is our stratergic destination. We are keen on adding more flights to this sector — especially, Bangalore — Munich sector, where the IT professionals are travelling in large numbers,” said Lufthansa German Airlines Director (South Asia) Werner Heesen, while making a presentation to visiting Indian media at Lufthansa headquarters in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
New destinations
He also pointed out that Lufthansa is adding new destinations like Kochi, Ahmedabad, Pune etc. Both the German and Indian governments have agreed to meet shortly and we are hopeful of a positive outcome from this bilateral talks. From our side, we have submitted the proposal and hope that the Indian government will open up more rights to operate, Mr Heesen said.
At present, Lufthansa is operating daily flights to Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore from Frankfurt apart from daily flights to Delhi from Munich and three times weekly services to Kolkata from Frankfurt.
While talking about Lufthansa’s  investment plans in India, Mr Heesen said: “All our subsidary companies are extremely doing well — Lufthansa Technik, aircraft maintenance division, has set up a joint venture with GMR Group to build an aircraft Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) facility at Hyderabad. One Stop Airline MRO in Delhi handles airline clients, LSG Sky Chef, catering arm of Lufthansa, is already present in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Lufthansa-Taj pact
Meanwhile, Lufthansa is likely to tie up with Taj Group of Hotels in India. Lufthansa Airlines Vice President (Marketing) Andreas Bierwirth said this tie-up would be  for frequent flyer programme, miles and more. This would mean Lufthansa frequent flyer, can secure miles for the money. In case of Taj Hotels, the passenger will earn more miles if he decided to stay at Taj Hotels. An announcement will take place in India in August.