Lufthansa CE Carsten Spohr said the carrier wants to play a role in the further consolidation of Europe’s airlines, while suggesting that full mergers aren’t the only option. Responding to reports that Lufthansa is exploring bids for SAS and the Condor arm of Thomas Cook Group, Spohr said Friday that the stories “have the wrong sources,” without elaborating. “We’ve said consolidation in Europe is needed, and that we want to be a part of it,” the CE said. “So we are speaking with everyone, and everyone is speaking to us.” Acquisitions could allow Lufthansa to expand its Eurowings discount arm even as a transfer of flights from its main brand is opposed by unions. At the same time, they’d add complexity when Spohr is trying to simplify operations, and full-service carriers like SAS would most likely increase rather than cut costs. <br/>
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SWISS expects to put its first Bombardier CSeries aircraft—a CS100—into service July 15 on its first commercial flight: LX638 from Zurich to Paris Charles de Gaulle. The carrier will take delivery of the CS100 in June, becoming the launch operator for the new aircraft type. The much-delayed CSeries aircraft was originally supposed to enter service in late 2013. “We expect to have up to 9 CSeries aircraft in operation this year; this is quite a number,” SWISS CE Thomas Kluehr said. Other destinations to initially receive CS100 service will be Manchester, Prague and Budapest, followed by Warsaw and Brussels at the end of August. In September, the CS100 will serve Nice, Stuttgart, Hanover, Milan, Florence and Bucharest. The CSeries is expected to serve the Zurich-London City route from Q1 of 2017. <br/>
Facing frequent technical problems in its Dreamliner fleet, Air India has found itself in a spot as absence of contractual provisions is hindering the carrier's efforts to get financial compensation from Boeing. Air India, which is working on efforts to turnaround its fortunes, has been grappling with technical glitches and other malfunction with the 'game-changer' Dreamliner aircraft since their induction in the fleet over 3 year ago. The every now and then glitches have forced the carrier to ground Boeing 787-800 planes on multiple occasions, which has resulted in long flight delays and significant loss of revenue A senior Air India official said many rounds of discussions have taken place with respect to seeking compensation from Boeing but efforts have not been successful so far. <br/>
Seeking a turnaround in its fortunes, Air India is looking to augment revenues rather than trim staff expenses even as it battles tough market conditions and financial woes. The carrier, which is surviving on a staggered INR300b bailout package, has around 19,000 employees, including over 1,500 pilots and about 6,000 people on contract. A senior official said the airline is looking at various options to increase revenues and that there are no plans to cut down costs related to staff. "Air India's staff is around 12% of the total expenses...It might be an easy way to slash expenditure by withdrawing or doing away with certain perks given to employees but that will not help in the long-term," he noted. Significantly, the carrier had early last year announced a slew of cost-cutting measures. <br/>