New Lufthansa general manager

Valdis Dombrovskis has been appointed general manager for Lufthansa in Malta for the next five years, succeeding Carsten Boemelburg, who held the post for three years and who now moves to Frankfurt.

The appointment and other developments in Lufthansa were announced during a press briefing at the Hilton yesterday.

Mr Dombrovskis joined Lufthansa in 1979 as a customer service agent at Munich Riem airport. He held several positions with the airline, specialising in setting up and operating new Lufthansa stations in various parts of Germany and other countries.

In 2000, Mr Dombrovskis was appointed general manager of Lufthansa in Turkmenistan, based in Ashkabad.

His appointment in Malta is effective from November 1.

Plans by Lufthansa for a new business class product which provides for 25 per cent more space, flat beds and entertainment and information programmes on long-haul flights were also announced.

The new product will initially go into service around the world with Lufthansa's new Airbus A340-600 and A330-300 aircraft which will start delivery at the end of this month. The entire long-haul fleet of approximately 80 aircraft will be successively equipped with the new product.The investment for the new business class product amounts to around €300 million.

Plans are also being discussed for Lufthansa in Malta, including upgrading of the business class product, possibly next year.

Lufthansa recently reported operating profits of €200 million for the third quarter of this year.

For the first nine months this year, Lufthansa posted a cumulative operating loss of €154 million. Over the past six months, the group reduced the record loss of €415 million sustained in the first quarter by €261 million.

In the nine-month term in the previous year, Lufthansa returned an operating profit of €790 million.

The airline is expecting a nearly balanced operating result for 2003.