Lufthansa: Group Breakup Would Hurt Fight Against Emirates, Turkish, Chinese And U.S. Airlines

Lufthansa: Group Breakup Would Hurt Fight Against Emirates, Turkish, Chinese And U.S. Airlines

CEO Carsten Spohr said only the current group structure will allow its individual airlines to compete against global carriers including Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines.. There is greater imperative as government aid benefits airlines in the world's two largest aviation markets.. Most airlines are only receiving loans, but the U.S. provisioned $25 billion of direct grants to passenger airlines.. A third category of airlines is a usual thorn for Lufthansa: super-connector airlines in the Middle East, a group that typically includes Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.. Turkish Airlines, whose capital contains the Bosporus, is sometimes considered the "fourth" Gulf airline because of its large connecting traffic.. "If we want to compete globally against three major airline groups in the U.S., China and the Gulf Region and the Bosporus, then we will be able to do so only as a European airline group," Spohr said.. I have been covering airlines and aerospace in Asia-Pacific for 10 years..