The Lufthansa Group is ready for significant expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa this year with new routes and additional frequencies to its existing network. The group has witnessed increased post-pandemic demand to and from many African countries, prompting its expansion on the continent.
Last December, Lufthansa appointed René Koinzack as the new Senior Director of Sales for Southern and East Africa, Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea. This is a new position that was created to oversee activities in those specific regions. While not covering all markets, he oversees about 23 African countries. Simple Flying first caught up with René Koinzack at the recent Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (BARSA) Summit.
Gearing up for Southern African expansion
The group aims to continue strengthening its presence in Africa while assessing growth potential in the Southern and Eastern regions, as well as in Nigeria. Last year, Lufthansa announced the resumption of direct flights between Munich (MUC) and Johannesburg (JNB) after 19 years. The route will see three weekly flights with the Airbus A350. As such, the group will have up to 33 weekly flights to South Africa.
Lufthansa and its subsidiaries, including Brussels Airlines, SWISS, Discover Airlines, Edelweiss, and Austrian Airlines, serve about 35 African destinations. In addition to the airlines, Lufthansa InTouch, Global Load Control (GLC), Lufthansa Cargo, and other business units run various operations around the continent, with over 1,000 employees in South Africa alone.
Strong demand in Southern and Eastern Africa
According to Koinzack, the resumption of Munich-Johannesburg flights is a testament to the positive trends Lufthansa is witnessing regarding travel to and from South Africa. The group has seen a strong rebound in business and leisure traffic from all over Europe. Last year, South Africa-Europe flights were even more popular, with the Rugby World Cup in France.
The group has also seen strong demand in other Southern African countries like Namibia, which is served by Discover Airlines. After launching five weekly flights from Frankfurt to Windhoek in 2021, this increased last summer to ten weekly departures, including the Frankfurt-Windhoek-Victoria Falls service. René Koinzack said to Simple Flying,
“There is a lot of development in our region. We see a strong interest in travel to Southern Africa from Europe. In South Africa, local demand for flights to Europe is also increasing, which gives us confidence in the market.”
The carrier is witnessing the same trends in East Africa, where it has been expanding its operations over the past years, with Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, and Mombasa as new destinations. Summer 2024 will also see the resumption of Brussels Airlines flights from Brussels (BRU) to Nairobi (NBO) after about nine years. On June 3, the Belgian carrier will start operating up to six weekly flights on the route, but this will be reduced to four weekly in winter.
With the start of the Nairobi operation, the group will also increase flights to Kigali (KGL), which will be served on a daily basis, from June. Brussels Airlines will be the first and only European carrier operating daily flights to Rwanda. The Lufthansa Group sees a lot of opportunities for further growth in Africa, and apart from the new routes starting this year, it will continue analyzing where to increase frequencies and observing market trends and opportunities.
Partnerships and Corporate Social Responsibility
Last year, Lufthansa also signed codeshare agreements with South African Airways and Airlink to give passengers access to more destinations in South Africa. Similarly, SAA and Airlink customers can easily book long-haul flights to Europe with Lufthansa and SWISS on a single itinerary. These partnerships have been very important for the German and Swiss carriers, as René Koinzack put it,
“Lufthansa Group has a long history of forming partnerships in the industry, so it is great to have these codeshares with Airlink and South African Airways to increase the portfolio for our travelers. While Johannesburg is nice, Southern Africa has a lot of diverse regional locations to offer. We want to grow our network for our customers to make it easier for them to travel, not only from Frankfurt, Zurich, and soon Munich to Johannesburg, but also within South Africa.”
In addition to its flight services, Lufthansa is also supporting several projects around the continent as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Help Alliance, a non-profit organization under the Lufthansa Group, is engaged worldwide in giving young people access to education and enabling them to lead a self-determined life.
The organization has just started a brand-new project, building a Chess school in Lagos, Nigeria, reaching kids living in difficult circumstances with education and support. Help Alliance is running other social projects in Tanzania and South Africa.
Source: Simple Flying.
