Lufthansa to query German cartel office over price analysis

Lufthansa did not make any additional profit on domestic German routes after the collapse of local rival Air Berlin, and prices did not go up by as much as determined by the cartel office, an executive at the airline said Wednesday. The German cartel office Tuesday said that Lufthansa tickets were on average 25 to 30% more expensive after the insolvency but that it would not be instigating a full investigation into market abuse. "We did not purposefully increase ticket prices, but we did purposefully increase capacity," Lufthansa board member Harry Hohmeister said. He said Lufthansa's own calculations showed ticket prices rose only 3% on average when adjusted for other economic effects. However, for around 5% of customers, tickets were 25 to 30% more expensive, particularly at peak times. <br/>