Lufthansa Group Shifts to Next Phase of Its Pioneering Distribution Strategy
Photo Credit: Lufthansa Group's first-class lounge at Munich (Muenchen) Airport. Lufthansa Group
Skift Take
Lufthansa Group may have done more than any other airline group to aggravate Amadeus, Travelport, and especially Sabre in recent years. Yet a grudging truce in the distribution battle may be possible, according to this exclusive interview with a top executive.
Lufthansa Group shook the world of airline distribution five years ago when it added a surcharge on ticket bookings made outside of its direct channels. The German airline group made its tickets more costly when processed via the distribution middlemen Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport.
The German airline group hiked that fee this month for tickets on Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels, and Air Dolomiti.
So how has the strategy been going? Skift checked in with Tamur Goudarzi Pour, chief commercial officer of Swiss International Air Lines and senior vice president revenue management and distribution for Lufthansa Group hub airlines.
The interview's newsiest part was the executive's comments related to Sabre. Lufthansa Group has for months been locked in negotiations over a multi-year distribution contract with the Texas-based company. A deal would likely end separate but related litigation between the companies, experts speculated.
So how positive does Goudarzi Pour
