Lufthansa plans to add a sixth weekly flight between Munich and Singapore starting April 1. “We have definitely seen high demand and continuous growth for this route since we launched in March. Hence, we have decided to add one additional frequency to meet the market’s needs,” Heiko Brix said. He is the Lufthansa Group’s senior director of sales for Southeast Asia and Pacific. “Singapore is an important market for us, and we are always monitoring it closely to ensure our presence suits the market’s interests.” The airline relaunched the route with the Airbus A350-900 March 27 after dropping it in Oct 2012, citing high costs and poor profitability from operating an Airbus A340-300. Lufthansa said that Germany is the strongest European economic partner for Singapore. <br/>
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Govt officials and aviation industry executives have proposed a series of measures to end massive flight delays that plagued air traffic in Germany this summer. “A situation like this summer should not be repeated. I will not accept it again,” German minster of transportation Andreas Scheuer said. Lufthansa Group chairman & CE Carsten Spohr, who had said Aug 28 that his company accepted “a large share” of responsibility for the disruptions in German air traffic this summer, said his airline will provide additional aircraft and crews at major German airports and create a total of 600 additional jobs to improve quality. Lufthansa has spent about E250m this summer on compensation payments to passengers and is ready to invest the same amount of money. <br/>
Avianca, which plans to launch 5X-weekly service to Munich in November, is targeting more destinations in Europe. In addition to the flights to Munich, the airline has evaluated services to Frankfurt, Paris, Rome and Zurich, Avianca CE Hernan Rincon said. “Because we realised we have to do more in Europe,” he said. The decision to choose Munich also was helped by the fact that Lufthansa is one of Avianca’s Star Alliance partners. “But this was not the main reason alone to launch Munich services,” Rincon said. Avianca will be the first Latin American airline to serve Munich. Services to Eastern European destinations are unlikely because they are beyond the maximum range for nonstop Boeing 787 flights. Strengthening the airline’s hubs and optimising the route network in strategic markets has been a high priority for Rincon. <br/>