Lufthansa's new 'Jump' airline sets sights on Asia-Pacific
By David Flynn, October 7 2014
Lufthansa will launch a new airline dubbed 'Jump' next year with its eye on the Asia-Pacific market.
However, Jump isn't the German carrier's as-yet-unnamed budget offshoot – instead, it will adopt a 'hybrid' model closer to that of competitor AirBerlin, but on an international scale, with a launch date of November 2015.
Jump's startup fleet of eight Airbus A340 jets will be fitted with 18 business class seats, 19 premium economy and 261 economy seats, according to reports in Asia-Pacific Business Traveller.
Those business class seats will be the same as offered on Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 jets.
At the same time, Jump is expected to run with far leaner operating costs than its parent, including new contracts struck with unions for as much as 25% less than Lufthansa.
Jump's primary destinations will cover key cities in China, India and Thailand, as well as select cities in North America.
Lufthansa's low-cost airline, also due to begin flying in late 2015, will target "more tourist-centric markets, for less money than both mainline Lufthansa or ‘Jump’ could offer", according to a Lufthansa spokesman.
Also read: Preview – Lufthansa's new premium economy seats
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
22 Aug 2013
Total posts 173
I wonder if it will be in *A
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
14 Jan 2014
Total posts 341
Hmmmm... start up fleet of 8 Airbus A340's is not exactly looking good for fuel consumption.
30 Aug 2013
Total posts 440
I get that they probably get the planes for 'free' but surely starting off with free fuel guzzling planes is not a good idea? Aren't there any old 777s they could lease?
07 Aug 2012
Total posts 193
A fully paid off A343 must be cheaper to operate than a leased 77E. The lease payments would outweigh the fuel savings.
However the A343 is not too far off the 77E in performance on long haul flights. The A346 is another matter and doesn't compete well with the 77W.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 785
Pretty sure the German beancounters at LH know what they're doing.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3012
Surely a 25% reduction is wages would more than offset the inefficiency of operating A343.
I'm sure the A343 is a LH hand me down to keep capital cost down before purchasing tried and tested A350/B787 in X years time, once the new venture has broke-even or delivered profit.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Aug 2012
Total posts 2204
The 77E has also got to the point of being handed down, as we've seen with Scoot's six. I'd expect LH to hand down the newer frames ('newer' being relative, as the youngest A343 they have is thirteen years old).
I'm inclined to agree with TRB - the A343s are there to kick off the game and hopefully do okay before they commit to new aicraft. I think they're trying to create a sort of 'new world carrier' that's not quite legacy/full-service, but not quite LCC either.
What really sparks my curiosity is where they're going to throw this airline.
31 Aug 2013
Total posts 60
They are going to pack these A343s with economy seats to serve low business demand locations, so I don't think they are worried too much about the economics for now. Additionally Lufthansa has moved up removing their A346, however the problem is no one really wants to purchase them. However Airbus gave out waivers for their resale value as a sales inducement against the 777. This means if Lufthansa removes them at market rates, they will make a rather nice profit from Airbus.
So Lufthansa can renew their fleet by replacing these aircraft the newer 777X and 350s, while gaining a small profit on the side. Does not sound like they will worry too much about their ongoing costs for now.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 May 2011
Total posts 732
Interesting news. Seems that LH has been able to negotiate the contract conditions of its (new) staff, unlike AF who’s employees have not budged. I question the choice of fleet that the new airline is utilizing, the A340 is not the most efficient aircraft around. The savings in personnel cost alone will hardly offset the high fuel cost (which are a significant part of the operating cost) and supposedly the ticket price will be lower than what the mainline airline asks. I wonder how they are able to be much more profitable. Cuts on inflight service no doubts, perhaps also no affiliation with Miles&More? Time will tell...at least LH is evolvong, introduction of Prem Eco, Jump and a budget airline on the chart....
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3012
KG, re: LH and AF; Why do you think EMU works so perfectly? ;)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Feb 2014
Total posts 144
Another airline having ago at the "Asian Scheme" e.g. KLM Asia, Australian Asia Airlines etc... . Is it going to be based in Taiwan?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Mar 2012
Total posts 233
I don't think the point of Jump is to allow rights to Taiwain. The reason for the 'Asia' tag on airlines such as KLM was to essentially render them a different airline and thus appease the Chinese government- nothing to do with cheaper staffing or basing :)
25 Sep 2013
Total posts 1245
And the local pilot unions are OK with this?
QF
07 Oct 2014
Total posts 2
Unfortunately, they are not. There are negotiations right now between the union and LH about a pension scheme and other topics, one of them the new low-cost subsidiaries. They oppose all the plans have already shut down LHs operations a few times in the last couple of months. However, due to the very volatile business environment with a fluctuating Euro and the strong competition from EK/EY etc. it is likely that LH will actually sit through it...
I suppose they could also base their new operations in Austria or Belgium, where Brussel Airlines and Austrian are based. There, the unions probably won't oppose that much. Furthermore, the market of available pilots is growing thus a new subsidiary with pilots hired from outside the LH corporation could be interesting...
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Feb 2013
Total posts 54
So which routes will Jump fly?
Will it fly from FRA/MUC to destinations in China, India, Thailand other than PEK, PVG, DEL, BOM and BKK? Will it only fly new routes (easier to reach agreement with the unions), or will it take over some existing LH routes?
Which are the "key cities" in Thailand? Would LH really use Jump to fly from FRA/MUC to a *A hub like BKK? Or is this about BER/DUS flights to BKK? I would have thought HKT would be better suited to the new low-cost airline?
Or from other German airports? I would have thought that flights from most other German airports would need StarAlliance feed at the other end of the route to be viable. Will Jump be a member of *A? Or will LH and other *A airlines just code-share on Jump?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Aug 2012
Total posts 2204
How about BER-SIN?
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