Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) CEO Carsten Spohr revealed additional details about his airline's proposed low-cost, longhaul operations involving Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) during a webcast session last week. During the broadcast, Spohr said the operations would centre around SunExpress (XQ, Antalya), a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa set up in 1989. The carrier, which also oversees a German subsidiary, SunExpress Deutschland (Frankfurt International), operates a fleet of nine B737-700s and 64 B737-800s on scheduled and chartered passenger flights to various destinations in Europe, Asia and North Africa.
“Currently, Sun Express is short-range narrow-body [planes] only, but we will be discussing this with Sun Express and Turkish [Airlines] over the next months and we will potentially extend Sun Express into long-range flights,” Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told Reuters.
As reported last week, the proposed revamped carrier's fleeting options are currently being considered.
"In an initial phase, the new intercontinental platform is expected to operate with a fleet that will gradually be built up to seven Boeing 767 or Airbus A330 aircraft, with operations likely to commence in winter 2015," Lufthansa said.
The German carrier is also considering to what extent up to nine of its Airbus A340-300s could be operated at substantially lower unit costs, either on new routes or on routes currently threatened with closure.
