Lufthansa warns on Gulf aviation market

Lufthansa’s CE said Gulf aviation would be hit by a wave of rationalisation as regional carriers which are hit by lower growth projections are forced to cut capacity. “There is more and more indication that – as we say in German – trees don’t grow to the sky in Gulf aviation,” Carsten Spohr said. “Therefore finding smart partnerships like Etihad has done with us, and limiting growth will play a bigger role in the next 12 months than in the last 10 years.” Gulf carriers have been growing strongly through fleet expansion and linking Asia with Europe and the Americas. But slowing global demand has hit their expansion plans. Emirates announced a 75% decline in profit growth last year and has, along with Etihad, been forced to make redundancies among support services. <br/>