U.K. Group Claims Big Drop in Lufthansa Market Share
by Michele McDonald /The U.K.’s Guild of Travel Management Companies is sparring with the Lufthansa Group (LHG) over whether its member carriers are losing share among British business travelers.
The GTMC said the airlines’ market share on routes from the United Kingdom to Germany has fallen significantly since Sept. 1, 2015, when Lufthansa imposed a €16 surcharge on all bookings processed by a GDS. The data compared the group’s June-August market share on the routes with its September-November share.
In June, LHG’s market share was 32.9%. By November, it had slipped to 24.4%. During that period, British Airways maintained its market share, while EasyJet and other airlines increased theirs. The GTMC said the data suggest that TMCs are shifting business away from LHG to avoid passing the surcharge on to their customers.
The data were compiled by the 7R Group, a provider of IT implementation and maintenance services to the travel industry. They were based on a sample of about 12,000 transactions booked by the GTMC’s members.
Lufthansa noted that the figures represent only bookings made through the GDS channel. It said that bookings made on its website, LH.com, increased from 29% in June to 35% in December.
It reiterated that it will likely report record results for full-year 2015.
Photo courtesy: Lasse Fuss