The crash of a Germanwings aircraft two months ago has not affected Lufthansa’s reputation of being a safe airline, Carsten Sophr, the airline’s Chief Executive Office and Member of the Board, said here late on Sunday evening.
Germanwings is a subsidiary airline of Lufthansa.
“On the count of safety, Lufthansa has a reputation which even by the tragic accident has not been hurt or damaged. This is not just the CEO trying to sell the company but our April figures were record figures in the history of Lufthansa, days and weeks after the accident,” Sophr said in response to a question from this newspaper.
The CEO was addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the 71st IATA Annual General Meeting here.
In March-end, a Germanwings aircraft had crashed in the French Alps killing all 150 passengers and crew members on board.
The CEO said that there will be a very “emotional moment” coming up next week when the remains of the first 30 victims of the crash will be flown to their home country.
Sophr added that days after the crash there was “some downturn” in Germanwings’ bookings.
He, however, added that Germanwings’ numbers were positive for the past two months.
Lufthansa operates 67 weekly international flights from various Indian cities.
Sophr said that the decision to cut back on flights to Russia was based on fall in demand.
(The writer is in Miami at the invitation of International Air Transport Association (IATA)