Lufthansa CEO optimistic on demand, eyes Italy opportunities

Demand for Lufthansa flights is better than expected this year, with traffic from the United States and Asia developing well, the carrier's chief executive said Monday. Lufthansa will also look at any opportunities that arise in Italy depending on what happens with stricken carrier Alitalia, though it has no plans to buy the Italian airline, Carsten Spohr told journalists on the sidelines of an airline industry meeting in Mexico. "From an outlook perspective we are getting more optimistic every week regarding our demand situation, especially from the U.S. and from Asia," Spohr said. He said that should any Alitalia planes come up for sale, then Lufthansa would look at those and also suggested that Lufthansa could increase capacity via its Eurowings budget unit. Low-cost rivals Ryanair, easyJet and Vueling are also looking to replace capacity that could be lost depending on what happens with Alitalia, whose future is under review. "Eurowings is a pan-European model. If there's opportunities to bring Eurowings into Italy... that could be one option," Spohr said.<br/>