Lufthansa Summer Capacity To Rise On Italia Unit

Lufthansa said its summer capacity would rise due to its new Lufthansa Italia carrier, offsetting capacity cuts at its existing route network as slumping demand hits airlines around the world.

Including the Italia unit's additional flights to cities such as Barcelona and Paris from Milan, overall capacity would rise by 0.6 percent, said Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa's head of marketing, at the ITB travel fair on Friday.

The number of seats on offer in Lufthansa's summer schedule starting March 29, excluding Lufthansa Italia, would decline 0.5 percent, he added. For the full-year 2009, the company has said it would cut capacity by 0.2 percent.

Airlines are struggling to remain profitable as businesses and consumers rein in their spending on travel during the recession. The world's airlines lost up to USD$8 billion in 2008, the International Air Transport Association said last week.

Amadeus, a booking system provider to travel agencies, said on Wednesday it had seen vacation bookings reach their trough, while business travel bookings were still getting worse.