Lufthansa German Airlines today announced they had acquired 19% of JetBlue because of their enormous growth potential and their great level of quality. Lufthansa, like United Airlines, is a founding father of Star Alliance. US Airways is member of that group as well. This has got nothing to do with Europe but I figured it's still interesting...
Posted by
West Sacramento, California, USA
281 posts
Andreas:
This has a lot to do with Europe, especially with the new open skies coming next year. If a "discount" airline is now at least partially controlled by a "legacy carrier" alliance it will allow them to offer through ticketing of flights including those of the discount partner. This means that someone like me could fly from California to New York on a discount airline, in this case Jet Blue, and then switch to Lufthansa for the flight across the pond. While I would still prefer the non-stop flight from California, these are generally somewhat more expensive than using the hub-and-spoke systems flights. Interestingly, Southwest is apparently also looking into the possibility of somehow partnering with other carriers to funnel passengers from their system to the flights to Europe. This would seem to indicate that Baltimore, where Southwest has built a hub, might be used, or perhaps Kansas City, it was designed to be Mid-Continental International, hence the MCI designation.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
If JetBlue is to offer through ticketing its not going to be a discount airline anymore. It will be just another one of the "big" carriers with JFK as its hub. It will be no different than Continental which uses nearby Newark as a hub.
Posted by
OP
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Kevin, very good point. Especially mentioning JetBlue's JFK hub because Singapore Airlines, one of the greatest airlines in the world (service wise) - who are Star Alliance member and Lufthansa partner - offer very cheap rates on their daily JFK to Frankfurt service. So you are right, thie really might change a lot...
Posted by
Nottingham, UK
658 posts
Lufthansa isn't the first member of Star Alliance to own all or part of a no-frills airline. BMI owns and operates bmibaby.
This does not mean that there can be through ticketing. IATA bonded airlines can through ticket whether they are in an alliance or not. Non IATA, low-cost, no-frills, call them what you will, airlines are stand alone carriers and can't combine their tickets no matter who their shareholders are.
Posted by
OP
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
German analsysts this morning said that the deal is about trans-atlantic traffic. JetBlue will act as feeder for LH's long-haul flights from LAX, JFK, MIA etc. which is a new market, extra revenue for JetBlue. Plus thru JetBlue LH broaden their reach in the US. Also LH get to a seat on JetBlue's board...