Lufthansa sees potential of Korean market

Christopher Zimmer, Lufthansa’s general manager for Korea

German carrier introduces A380 superjumbo jet for Incheon-Frankfurt route

By Kim Rahn

When an airline adopts the A380, a double-decker that is the biggest existing type of aircraft, for a specific route it means that the demand for the route has been large and will continue to grow.

That is exactly what Lufthansa German Airlines is doing for the Korean market: the German carrier started operating an A380 for its Incheon-Frankfurt route on May 22, the first European airline to fly the large aircraft between Europe and Korea.

Christopher Zimmer, the carrier’s general manager for Korea, said that he expects the larger capacity will meet corresponding demand soon, as the Korean market keeps growing. Before the A380, the airline operated a B747-8, which had 386 seats ― the capacity of the new plane is 31 percent more.

“It’s always difficult to match the right capacity with demand. But we are quite confident, because the market in Korea has been proven to be very stable,” Zimmer said in an interview with The Korea Times.

The business class cabin of Lufthansa’s A380 aircraft that operates between Incheon and Frankfurt

The number of passengers between Korea and Europe achieved double-digit growth last year, he added.

The new A380 has Lufthansa’s newest seats and interior design, as well as high fuel-efficiency. Since 2010, the carrier has been operating 14 A380s including the one flying to Korea.

With a total of 509 seats, the aircraft is comprised of four classes ― first, business, premium economy and economy.

The first class seat obtained five stars from Skyrax, a U.K.-based air transport research firm. It has a new humidification system that refreshes the air more often than before and improves air humidity to help fight jet lag, the first of its kind on a commercial aircraft.

The business class cabin features state-of-the-art functionality such as more storage, full-flat seats, and a power supply for every seat.

Seats of the premium economy class / Courtesy of Lufthansa

The economy class seats have in-seat video screens, an optimized ergonomic design and a slimmer seat back that offers two more inches of personal space per passenger than the airline’s older aircraft.

A notable cabin is that for premium economy class that the carrier launched last year.

“It satisfies demand from passengers who can’t afford to buy business class seats but want more luxurious seats than economy class ones,” Zimmer said.

The premium economy class offers 50 percent more space per passenger than economy class, as well as other prestige class-like services including welcoming drink, quality in-flight meal and amenity kits.

For a premium economy class seat, passengers need to pay about 300 euro more one way than the economy class fare, but the popularity of the class is growing, with the reservation rate being more than 70 percent.

“It will take more time for people to experience it and then comeback and buy it,” the general manager said. “It’s going up and we are on the right track.”

Beating competition

Lufthansa operates seven flights per week between Incheon and Frankfurt and six between Incheon and Munich. On the latter route, it flies an A340-600 aircraft.

Although demand is growing, the competition is also getting keener as many other carriers are also focusing on the market.

Zimmer said comprehensive quality control is the key to success, adding that air travel does not mean only flying but other work on the ground.

“If you have good products, fly to destinations where customers like to fly, and have the ground products that allow them to have smooth travel such as lounges and fast tracks, this is the way to success,” he said.

In that sense, Lufthansa has advantage with quality ground products including private jet service and a first class passengers-only terminal in Frankfurt.

In terms of flying as well, the carrier has good network: it is located at the center of Europe and has good connections to Africa and South America; and the Lufthansa Group includes not only Lufthansa German Airlines but also Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, and Germanwings.

“I have the right products, right schedules, right price and some of right features that our customers will like,” Zimmer said.

Specifically for Korean customers, the carrier offers Korean in-flight entertainment programs and Korean food such as “bibimbap” (rice mixed with assorted vegetable). While it already has about 80 Korean flight attendants, it is recruiting about 30 more along with the adoption of the A380 superjumbo jet.

To promote itself among Korean customers, Lufthansa opted for more direct communication channel, focusing on social network services including Facebook.

Zimmer said that the airline is always keeping its eyes open for new destinations across the world, and Korean cities can be one of such candidates if the market grows more. Lufthansa had operated a flight between Munich and Busan for seven years but stopped the operation in March last year. “Busan’s market size was too small for a direct flight,” he said. “But we’ll try our best to come back one day.”

Who is Christopher Zimmer

Zimmer has been leading Lufthansa’s Korea unit since February of 2012.

For more than 20 years with the airlines, he has experienced various parts of passenger services. He joined the company in 1991 and started his career in Vienna, Austria. He was appointed to head the carrier’s Bulgaria unit three years later, and ran it for six years. He was then assigned as director for Poland in 2000.

This was followed by positions in Asia since 2005, including the Philippines, Guam and Micronesia. He was also general manager for passenger sales in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and regional director of Vietnam and the Philippines.

The 49-year-old enjoys music, and is a member of an international band in Korea, playing bass guitar.