Mr. Spohr, with 600 aircraft, no airline has received more aircraft from Airbus than Lufthansa. Less than 20 percent of your fleet is accounted for by other manufacturers. What makes Airbus better than Boeing?

Timo Kotowski

Editor in business.

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Niklas Záboji

Business correspondent in Paris

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Guillaume Faury: Be careful, you are under surveillance. (laughs)

Carsten Spohr: Airbus is pushing innovation to new frontiers. When Airbus delivered the A1989 for the first time in 320, they were almost two model generations ahead. The quality of the aircraft has made us not only the largest, but also one of the most loyal customers.

Why do you still need aircraft from other manufacturers?

Spohr: A monopoly is never good. We want competition in terms of technology and ideas and, of course, in terms of prices. I don't know of any airline of our size that relies exclusively on one manufacturer.

Lufthansa is now acquiring a stake in ITA, which has an all-Airbus fleet. Most recently, shareholders had doubts that you could make the airline profitable. How do you plan to do that?

Spohr: We have a concrete business plan to lead ITA to profitability. We give ourselves two years for the implementation. We have already taken over several airlines and successfully integrated them. Historically, it was considered a major disadvantage for Lufthansa not to have a large central catchment area like London or Paris. We have turned this disadvantage into a strategic advantage. With a system of multiple hubs and multiple brands under the umbrella of one airline group. This is how we have become number one in Europe – even without ITA.

Why is Italy so important to you?

Spohr: Italy is already our most important foreign market after our home markets and the USA. Half of our customers from Italy already travel on to long-haul destinations via our hubs. Their number will increase, in addition to the expanded hub in Rome. And: ITA is not Alitalia. It is important for Italy to have a strengthened home airline. Last but not least, the strong economy and the tourism industry depend on this.

Do you have an eye on the complete takeover – when and how?

Spohr: The possible complete takeover has been contractually pre-agreed. From 2025, we have the option to take over a further 49 percent, then the remaining 10 percent. The price will also depend on the development of ITA, but a large part is already fixed. Nevertheless, we have no compulsion to take over ITA completely.

Mr. Faury, there is still a lack of components such as engines or electronic devices in Airbus production. When will the supply chain problems end?

Faury: We have moved from a demand crisis in the Corona pandemic to a supply crisis. In addition to raw materials and components, labor is also scarce. Many people have left us during the pandemic, and it takes time to qualify new forces. The bottlenecks are getting a little better, but will persist in 2023. It is not unlikely that they will last until 2024.

Do you also benefit from the delivery problems? Aircraft demand exceeds supply, you can ask for higher prices.

Faury: No, there is no advantage for us from the delivery problems. We are not delivering the number of aircraft we should be able to reach. And we earn money primarily from delivery. Our customers are not satisfied. We cannot raise prices because we deliver according to contracts that were concluded before the pandemic.

Mr. Spohr, do you get lower discounts on new aircraft than before because of the bottlenecks?