10.03.05
Germany's national carrier, Lufthansa, is to become the first mainstream airline to offer passengers an aircraft all to themselves, by providing private jets to whisk them to 1,000 destinations across Europe. The carrier yesterday struck a deal with NetJets, the executive jet firm owned by Warren Buffett, for an elite service aimed at rock stars, sports champions and billionaires.
Under the joint venture, passengers arriving on Lufthansa's long-haul services to Munich will be chauffeured to a waiting private jet, which will fly them to the closest local airport to their destination. Similarly, travellers beginning their journey in a European city outside Lufthansa's scheduled network will be able to book a jet through the German airline to pick them up from the airport of their choice.
The new executive jet service will use Cessna Citation private planes with up to 7 seats. NetJets has a fleet of 61 aircraft, with a European base in Lisbon, and has plans to buy a further 30. Prices will start at between €5,000 ($6,750) and €9,000 a plane, plus €300 for additional passengers.
Lufthansa's tactic is likely to raise eyebrows in a European market dominated by competition for lower fares, fewer frills and rock-bottom costs. Lufthansa has a strategy of differentiating itself at the top of the market. In November, it opened a first-class lounge at Frankfurt offering individual rooms and personal assistants for every passenger, plus cordon bleu chefs, bathtubs and beds. Passengers in the lounge get a Porsches or Mercedes to take them to the steps of their aircraft.
Chris Tarry, of the aviation consultancy CTAIRA, said there was a commercial logic in pursuing time-poor executives in the highest ranks of business: 'It's a very, very small segment of the market but clearly, there are some very high-value passengers who will want it.'
